Access to News: Most students use mobile, social media

Most secondary school students use mobile phones, computers and have access to social media and about 55 percent of them use Facebook as their medium for getting news, according to a survey.

The survey, carried out on 483 students at 16 secondary schools in Dhaka and Tongi between February and May 2018, found a “serious lack” of media literacy among the students.

Even though 52 percent of the students claimed to read daily newspapers, a staggering 80 percent could not name three national dailies. Over two out of three students could not name five TV news channels.

The survey, on media access assessment of students, found that more than 82 percent students have internet access, but only 46 percent claimed that they visit online news portals.

However, only 6 percent could name three such portals.

South Asia Centre for Media in Development (SACMID), a non-government organisation, with support from Netherlands-based organisation Free Press Unlimited, carried out the survey.

The findings were revealed yesterday at a roundtable jointly organised by SACMID and Access to Information (A2i) Programme at the Bishwo Shahitto Kendro in Dhaka.

Rafiqul Islam, an educational technology expert of A2I Programme, said the students nowadays get news from the social media, especially Facebook. “After a few years, the students will not know the name of any news media … Everything will be Facebook media to them,” he said.

Citing “serious lack” of media literacy -- the ability to access, analyse and evaluate media -- among the students, the survey said the government should take necessary measures like integrating media literacy in curriculum and researching on other students.

AKM Reazul Hassan, a member of National Curriculum and Textbook Board, said the government would consider incorporating media literacy in the curriculum.

According to the survey, at least 65 percent of the respondents use social media. About 75 percent of them have a Facebook account, nearly half use YouTube and Instagram and one-third of the students use WhatsApp and Twitter.

Of the social media users, 74 percent have been using it for more than a year and about 32 percent students spend one to two hours a day on social media. Thirty-eight percent of them spend Tk 50 or less every week on their phones.

At the roundtable, experts said the students' attraction to social media was alarming and urged caution.

They urged parents and teachers to guide and monitor students properly so that they do not misuse the internet and social media and remain safe on the web.

About a quarter of the students have their own mobile phones and SIM cards and the majority of the students get access to their parents' or siblings' devices, the survey found.

More than 72 percent students use internet enabled mobile phones, 32 and 30 percent use internet on desktop and laptop computers, 52 percent read daily newspapers, and 79 percent watch cable TV.

Abdul Mannan, a director at the Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education; Jude William R Genilo, a professor at University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh; Nazar E Zilani, chairman of SACMID; and several schoolteachers spoke at the event.