Adult Media Literacy in Australia: Attitudes, Experiences and Needs

In November and December 2020 we surveyed a sample of 3,510
adult Australians to understand the different types of media they use,
the value they place on different media activities, their confidence in
their own media abilities and their access to media literacy support.
The findings show that most Australians use several different types
of media each day, they believe a diverse range of media activities
are important in their lives, but their confidence in their own
media abilities is unexpectedly low. We also find that far too many
Australians don’t have access to any media literacy support when
they need it. The findings demonstrate that if we accept that media
is integral to all aspects of our lives, far more needs to be done to
address the needs of groups who are the least confident about their
media abilities and who have access to the least support. The findings
also show that increasing media literacy can yield direct benefits for
increasing people’s civic engagement.