Technological Literacy

TECHNOLOGICAL
LITERACY
Prakriti Kohl
information competence and the use of technology 1102210090
MSc Clinical Psychology
Experimental Psychology
Introduction
In a broad sense, technology is any modification of the natural world made to fulfill human needs or
desires. Although people tend to focus on the most recent technological inventions, such as
computers, cell phones, and the Internet, technology also includes automobiles, frozen food,
irrigation systems, manufacturing robots, and a myriad of other devices and systems that
profoundly affect everyone in a modern society.
Because of the pervasiveness of technology, an understanding of what technology is, how it works,
how it is created, how it shapes society, and how society influences technological development is
critical to informed citizenship. Technological choices influence our health and eco- nomic
well-being, the types of jobs and recreation available, even our means of self-expression. How well
citizens are prepared to make those choices depends in large part on their level of technological
literacy.
What is Technological Literacy?
Technology Literacy refers to the ability to use, manage, understand, and assess technology. It
is related to digital literacy in that when an individual is proficient in using computers and
other digital devices to access the Internet, digital literacy gives them the ability to use the
Internet to discover, review, evaluate, create, and use information via various digital platforms,
such as web browsers, databases, online journals, magazines, newspapers, blogs, and social
media sites.
But technology literacy isn’t limited to just computers and the Internet; it can be applied to
any technological device. The definition of technology is any device, system, or methodology
created to solve a problem or help carry out a task. All fields, regardless of their nature,
benefit from and widely employ means of technological advancements.
Why do we need to be technologically literate?
Technology is all around us and permeates every aspect of our modern existence.
Advances and innovations have made many of our daily tasks easier to accomplish and
have enriched our professional and personal lives. And just as we start to get accustomed
to the latest new piece of technology, someone has another breakthrough, and they
introduce a new tech device.
It becomes necessary to keep up to date with these advancements. The recent decades
have seen an undeniable surge in the use of technology, especially with everything going
oline during COVID-19. Technology's dizzying growth rate shows us that technology
literacy is essential to our daily lives.
Forms of Technological Literacy
Digital literacy is the ability Information literacy is the

Media literacy is the ability
to locate use digitally and ability to locate, evaluate,
to access, analyse and
technologically advanced and apply given or
create information in
tools, networks and discovered information
various forms. Ex- creating
communications to find, affectively. Ex- using
a blog post
evaluate and create research articles to
information. Ex presenting compline a literature
on a zoom meeting review
Benefits of Technological Literacy
Technology can assist one Being comfortable with
with many tasks, so knowing technology and knowing how
how to use it proves to be to navigate it allows one to
beneficial in many areas. build on their digital skills.
Tech-savvy people can use Living in the 21st century,
technology to help with digital skills are a game
things such as language changer when it comes to
learning, productivity finding work. One needs to
management and meal ensure they keep upskilling.
planning. Understanding One study found that 82% of
technology and knowing how middle-skill jobs require
to use it well will make it digital skills. The digital skills
more helpful. This creates a gap means that those with
constant attempt to improve the necessary technology
preexisting and standard skills could have a better
methods of approaching chance at securing a job.
problems
Technological Literacy Skills
● Communication – the ability to communicate online is an important skill in regards to technology
literacy. Actively using technology doesn’t just involve consuming information – it involves
making your own content and sharing it with others too.
● Comprehension – one of the most vital technological skills is the ability to comprehend the
information we receive from technology. Just as crucial as traditional reading and writing
literacy, we should be able to make sense of what we are reading and viewing with tech.
● Evaluating information – it isn’t always easy to determine what information is correct. One of the
technology skills needed to be literate is the ability to evaluate information. This means critically
analysing information to determine accuracy, validity, reliability and authority of information.
● Adapting – technology is constantly changing and evolving, bringing new useful applications and
brand new forms of technology to learn about. Tech literate individuals should be able to adapt
and pick up new skills needed to navigate technology – whether it’s a new social media platform
or using a new phone model.
UNESCO’s Sustainable Development Goal for Education (SDG4)
The goal of this initiative is to ‘Ensure inclusive and quality education for all and
promote lifelong learning’, the report identifies three broad but distinct areas of
digital skills for life and work:
• Basic functional digital skills for accessing and engaging with digital
technologies;
• Generic digital skills for using digital technologies in meaningful and beneficial
ways;
• Higher-level skills for using digital technology in empowering and transformative

ways.
Assessing technological literacy
To assess technological literacy, one must have not only a clear idea of what it is, but also a good
deal of knowledge about assessment. Basically, technological literacy is an understanding of
technology at a level that enables effective functioning in a modern technological society. Mostly
when assessing, technological literacy is defined as having three major components, or dimensions:
knowledge, capabilities, and critical thinking and decision making.
The "knowledge dimension" of technological literacy includes both factual knowledge and
conceptual understanding. The "capabilities dimension" relates to how well a person can use
technology and The final dimension-the "critical thinking and decision-making dimension"-has to do
with one's approach to technological issues. Aptitude and attitude, too, can invariably be indicators
in factoring.
Examples of Technological Literacy
Content creation - online content comes in many forms, and being able to
contribute to the bank of online content requires tech literacy skills.
Deciding what to post and where to post it needs consideration, whether it
be a Youtube video, blog post or Instagram reel.
Communicating - a standard use of technology is communicating with other

Individuals, from friends and family to global audiences. Tech literate
individuals should be able to communicate using the appropriate platform
for their needs, and be able to navigate said platform effectively. Sending
and receiving emails is a great way to communicate using technology
Research - we are lucky enough to have access to billions of pages worth of
content online, which makes finding answers to our questions easier than ever
before. Understanding where to look for information and what to ask to solve your
questions is a great way to demonstrate technology literacy.
Virtual reality it isn't all about computers and phones - new technologies such as
virtual and augmented reality are great ways to explore technology. Virtual reality
can be used for many different things, including learning and games. Constructing
your own virtual reality experience is a fantastic example of using technology
literacy skills as it requires a strong understanding of the technology involved.
Technological Literacy in an Indian Context
According to a study by Nielsen, a global ompany for audience measurement, data, and
analytics, rural India has 352 million internet users, almost 20 percent higher than urban.
However, possibly because of low digital literacy, as revealed by the same study, almost 60
percent of the rural population is still not actively using the internet.
While the overall literacy rate in the country has to bridge a gap of 25-30%, digital literacy
is almost non-existent among more than 90% of India’s population. At the same time, there
has been a concerted push towards deeper penetration of the internet, along with the
phenomenal increase in smartphone usage.
Due to the lack of digital literacy, and limited adoption of technology, tier 4 and tier 5
regions remain outside the ambit of services like basic banking, finance, and ecommerce,
thereby remaining as unexplored outliers. This is where technology based Indian startups
have stepped in and intervened, providing digital literacy and tech-based simplified digital
solutions to improve the lives of rural citizens.
The Indian government is also actively promoting digital literacy with
initiatives such as Digital Bharat and Technological Inclusion in rural
areas. Telemedicine, distance education, WIFI hotspots and other forms of
digital inclusion are becoming more common in Bharat.
By overcoming connectivity barriers, infrastructure scarcity, resources
and cultural limitations of technology, tech startups increase digital
awareness and literacy through their value proposition.
It is our joint responsibility to not only think about rebuilding, but also
about building sustainable ecosystems that have a profound impact on
rural communities and, by extension, nations.
The future of Technological Literacy
Technology is continuing to evolve at a rapid pace, we are seeing new variants of tech and the
already extensive list of technologies are evolving. The IT industry is even on track to reach 5.3
trillion dollars by 2023. But what does this mean for the future of technology literacy?
New technologies take getting used to, and provide both new risks and opportunities. Take the
recently announced Metaverse for example; a completely new alternative reality experience
taking the world by storm. Metaverse will be a mix of virtual reality and augmented reality to
create a fully immersive experience.
With new technologies rolling out, you may need to get used to navigating them and learn new
skills to effectively use them to remain informed and well versed with all new developments
Thank you!

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TECHNOLOGICAL

information competence and the use of technology 1102210090

MSc Clinical Psychology

Digital literacy is the ability Information literacy is the

• Higher-level skills for using digital technology in empowering and transformative

Communicating - a standard use of technology is communicating with other

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