Study of Relationship between Parent Media literacy and Virtual Network Dependency among Students 6 - 19 year old in Zanjan Schools: (2018)

Abstract

Background and Purpose: Media literacy has been defined as the ability to access the media to understand and critique the evaluation of various aspects of the media and their content and to establish communication in various fields. Parallel with the increasing use of the Internet and the epidemic of its use in the living environment, parents need to develop media literacy to protect themselves and their children and their safe use of the Internet and virtual social networks. This is due to the high speed of technology growth, the uneven balance of literacy among children and parents, and due to the low level of skills of some parents. Therefore, in this study parents' media literacy and social networking dependency in 6-19 year old school students, the city of Zanjan in 2018 has been investigated. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive-analytical study, all 6-19 year old students in Zanjan and their parents were examined. The sample size is 384 students based on the Morgan table and considering the large statistical society. Considering the multi-stage sampling plan and the effect of the research project, 768 people were considered. The data collection tool was a questionnaire. The questionnaire was designed in two separate sections for parents and students, including demographic and economic status data of the family, student social network dependency measurement, and parental media literacy. The correlation coefficient was used to examine the relationship between variables. Findings: The results showed that 41.5% of parents had good level of media literacy and only 2.2% of students were highly dependent on social networks. Telegram was the target of social network among parents (76.28%) and students (64.95%). The results showed Parents' media literacy had a significant relationship with their level of education (������� = 0.001) and Students' gender was also significant in their dependence on their social networks (������� = 0.009). There was a negative significant relationship between parental media literacy and Virtual networks dependency on student with a correlation coefficient of -0. 35. (α = 0.000). Conclusion: Virtual networking dependency among students of Zanjan city has significant relationship with parents' media literacy. Designing and implementing appropriate training programs to empower and improve the media literacy of low-educated parents is essential to prevent children from becoming dependent on social networks. Parent education and empowerment must be in line with the growth of access to new media on the internet, so that parents can play a parental role in monitoring and controlling their children's unhealthy behaviors by raising awareness and strengthening media content analysis skills.