Success in life depends upon literacy. It affects a human’s entire life span and often that of their children. It enables the ability to have adequate income to provide for basic needs such as food, housing, and healthcare. Literacy is often the only lifeline for so many people. In addition to the positive aspects literacy brings to your life, the main result is that it guarantees you have shelter and enough money for necessities such as food and basic bills.
Literacy is no longer limited to reading, writing, and arithmetic. Following are thirteen different literacies:
1. Digital literacy: Proficiency in using smart devices to achieve various goals.
2. Media literacy: Being able to use various communication formats such as instant messaging, push notifications, wikis, online communities, blogs, or vlogs and choose the most effective medium to use in each situation.
3. Visual literacy: Being able to understand and create videos, photos, infographics, and other visuals.
4. Data literacy: Analyzing and using data to make informed decisions.
5. Game literacy: Playing online video games can improve math, reading, and science skills. They also help develop fine motor skills, better navigation abilities, and problem-solving strategies.
6 and 7. Health & financial literacy: A healthy financial position makes it easier to make healthy choices. Having good health makes it possible to work hard for financial stability. The two literacies enhance each other and bring about better results.
8 and 9. Civic & ethical literacy: The two work hand-in-hand. Civic literacy involves knowing your rights and responsibilities as a citizen and the ability to see opportunities and paths for involvement. Ethical literacy involves handling and resolving conflicting core values.
10. News literacy: Determining what is fact and false when reading the news, then how to evaluate it.
11 and 12. Coding & computational literacy: Coding can teach how a computer might be used to problem solve. However, inventing a solution is as important as the ability to write code.
13. Foundational literacy: Being able to read, write, and understand.