By Hugo Besançon, SQUARE, France.
Over the past three years, “we” (Square, a French NGO) have worked with a network of researchers on understanding and fostering media literacy and critical thinking skills among young participants in disadvantaged neighbourhoods in the Paris area.
The work culminates in a report, authored by Melisa Basol, offering a comprehensive analysis of media literacy and critical thinking skills as well as civic confidence among a large sample (1400+) of middle schoolers and young adults. This report not only sheds light on the critical level of institutional distrust, gaps in digital literacy and weak verification habits but also rigorously assesses the impact of Square’s workshops designed to empower these young participants.
Before the workshops, the data revealed profound vulnerabilities across both cohorts:
- Institutional distrust: Trust levels among the participants were significantly lower than national averages, especially when dealing with political parties, law enforcement and the judicial system;
- Low civic confidence: Participants displayed alarmingly low confidence in their political knowledge and ability to participate in civic life: they feel less informed and less heard compared to their national peers;
- Weak media literacy & verification habits: Despite high social media usage, there were low levels of trust in online information. A significant portion of participants struggled to distinguish facts from opinions, lacked foundational knowledge of key media literacy concepts and exhibited weak verification habits;
- Uncertainty: Misinformation susceptibility was characterised more by uncertainty (“I don’t know”) rather than outright belief in false items, suggesting a lack of confidence in assessing veracity rather than firmly held misperceptions, showcasing an opportunity for targeted education.
Our workshops are aimed at fostering critical thinking and civic engagement as well as enhancing information analysis through metacognition and “prebunking” techniques. The evaluation, through pre- and post-workshop questionnaires, showcased meaningful progress:
- Increased political efficacy: Participants in the workshops reported feeling more engaged in political discussions, more confident in expressing their opinions post-workshop and believed more in the value of their opinions;
- Improved conceptual knowledge: Participants showed clear improvements in their ability to define key media literacy concepts, with gains sustained over time;
- Shift in verification practices: A majority of the participants reported increased frequency in checking sources and seeking out diverse perspectives, suggesting heightened open-mindedness and knowledge of verification practices;
- Sustained engagement: Participants translated intentions into action, maintaining their commitment to critical engagement with online content for up to three months;
- Reduced conspiratorial thinking (on a specific cohort): For a specific cohort in 2023 that received a more intensive, 4-day workshop with a dedicated session on conspiracy theories, a statistically significant reduction in conspiratorial beliefs was observed, demonstrating the effectiveness of targeted interventions.
Recommendations
Our report highlights that short-term, evidence-based media literacy interventions can effectively raise awareness and enhance conceptual understanding. However, addressing deeply rooted vulnerabilities like institutional distrust and motivated reasoning requires sustained and long-term investment.
Future interventions should:
- Expand on civic engagement components to increase confidence in navigating political information;
- Sustain exposure over time – one-off workshops alone may not be enough to drive long-term behavioural change;
- Leverage prebunking strategies for enhanced resilience against emerging misinformation techniques and narratives;
- Integrate more hands-on misinformation detection activities to strengthen real-world critical thinking skills.
Young people need not just awareness, but confidence, motivation and cognitive tools to actively engage in critical evaluation. Square’s work demonstrates that “with targeted interventions, the marginalised youth of France can be equipped not just to navigate the digital world, but to help shape it for the better.“
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