The role of media and information literacy during COVID-19 pandemic and post-pandemic period

Media and information literacy in the modern world is a set of skills, abilities that allow users to analyze media messages broadcast through the media and the Internet, the ability to critically approach the received data and perceived information. The COVID-19 pandemic that swept the whole world in the spring of 2020 forced all the population of the planet to use the worldwide network and the media actively, because they became the main source of information and a means of communication. This fact was also used by "ill-wishers" who launched false information about the statistics of those infected with the new virus, about the means of fighting it and much more. It was information literacy and critical thinking that allowed the population not to succumb to fake news and not to lose their heads. As shown by the authors' survey, the time that the population spent on the Internet before the pandemic was less than the time that it began to spend on the Internet after the announcement of the total quarantine. This can be explained simply – people had no other means of communication. However, as it was revealed as a result of the survey, people after the lifting of the quarantine regime, especially between the ages of 20 and 25, do not want to spend so much time at electronic space. According to the authors, the reason for this fact was the increased media literacy of this category for the population. People have learned to filter information flows, think critically and be skeptical about news. Nevertheless, many have switched to a distant work format and do not want to return to the previous offline mode, and for them, it is also necessary to develop media communications and increase their information literacy. Copyright © 2021 by Academic Publishing House Researcher s.r.o.