The power behind the screen: Educating competent technology users in the age of digitized inequality

Abstract

Digital technologies are deeply embedded in social, economic, and political hegemonies both past and present. Understanding the power dynamics, inequalities, and oppressions at work in and through digital technologies stands as a precondition to educating fully literate, fully competent digital citizens and technology users. This article is situated within an area of overlap between digital literacy and digital competence; that is, it is situated at the overlap of functional and cognitive skills, pedagogy and policymaking. We argue that it is crucial to introduce students to the language and theoretical frameworks examining what power is and how it functions in order to empower students to critically engage with the tangled ethics and power structures attendant with digital technologies and their data.

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