Lizzy Winstone

Fellow’s Profile

Lizzy Winstone

Fellow’s Profile

Lizzy Winstone

Improving social media algorithmic literacy in education

Fellowship

Themes

Focus

Teaching algorithmic literacy to young people to promote positive social media use

Countries

Fellowship year

2023

Supported by

Locality

South West

Biography

I am a senior research associate at the University of Bristol with expertise in social media use and young people's mental health and wellbeing. My Fellowship is about embedding algorithmic literacy into the e-safety curriculum in UK schools.

Understanding social media algorithms is an important tool in having control over the material we see online. This is particularly important for young people struggling with their mental health, who are more likely to engage with negative social media content. The issue is that the more someone interacts with negative content, the more likely they are to have increasingly extreme or upsetting material promoted to them through algorithms.

I hope to make algorithmic literacy part of the e-safety narrative at a national level, upskilling teachers and young people to better prepare them for living well online. Longer term, I would like to work with young people to co-produce a teaching resource for developing algorithmic literacy with a specific focus on avoiding harmful social media content and promoting positive social media use. My aim is to empower young people through a digital skillset that enables them to thrive online.

Activity

Disclaimer

All Reports are copyright © the author. The moral right of the author has been asserted. The views and opinions expressed by any Fellow are those of the Fellow and not of the Churchill Fellowship or its partners, which have no responsibility or liability for any part of them.

Activity

Disclaimer

All Reports are copyright © the author. The moral right of the author has been asserted. The views and opinions expressed by any Fellow are those of the Fellow and not of the Churchill Fellowship or its partners, which have no responsibility or liability for any part of them.

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