•  
  •  
 

Abstract

The role of new media in the Arab uprisings and the news of widespread surveillance of digital and mobile media have triggered a renewed interest in Arab audiences research, particularly as it pertains to these audiences’ critical abilities and digital media literacy competencies. Taken for granted have been Arab youth’s widespread use of social media for activism and political expression and their suspicion of government monitoring and privacy threats. This study questions these assumptions and attempts to provide a more accurate picture of Arab youth’s media uses, with the goal of informing the development of digital and media literacy curricula for the region. The study surveyed 2,554 youth and compared their media uses across countries, genders, incomes, ages, and education levels. The findings suggest low media literacy levels and media uses apathetic to political activism and focused more on entertainment with little fear of government surveillance and privacy risks.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.