By FERNANDO HORTA
We have failed to show that capitalism has no replicable enrichment processes, and we are failing to show that the digital world is not a copy of, nor a recipe for, analog life.
It is common to hear the diagnosis that “we are improving on social media” when it comes to talking to Brazilians about politics. From ordinary people approached on buses or in supermarket checkout lines to political leaders, the position is the same. There is a perception that, if we compare it to the performance of the left and even of Brazil as a whole, from June 2013 until now, we are better able to deal with the effects of digital issues.[I] about politics. This conclusion is based on a half-truth, a lie, and carries an enormous danger.
Digital literacy: what is it?
When Paulo Freire, in 1975, stated that “it was not enough to know how to mechanically read that 'Eve saw the grape'”[ii] he revealed the entire literacy mechanism as something far beyond the ability to decode symbols and sounds into ideas and thoughts. Still within the analogical paradigm, Paulo Freire already described literacy as a political process of understanding reality that did not end with the codification and decoding of written language, but also acted in the formation of critical thinking.
Digital literacy has a similar meaning, now focused on a world in which human existence also occurs concomitantly in a world of information encoded by machines that are neither neutral nor indifferent. Understanding the processes, flows, parts, actors and meanings within politics, society and the economy of the 21st century means always coming up against the effects of the digital transformation process, the main characteristic of which is its asymmetry across the planet and even within societies.
Digital is not a counterfeit of the material, like a fake copy of a valuable original. And so it is not enough to mechanically reflect the processes and meanings of the analog material world to the digital world and expect it to generate similar effects. Paulo Freire, there, said that it was necessary to “understand the position that Eve occupies in her social context, who works to produce the grapes and who profits from this work” and today it is possible to say that even this is no longer enough.
It is also necessary to explain why algorithms and networks present Eve with a grape and John with a tomato. Why do they convince John that a pineapple is the same as an onion and why do they hide from Eve, for example, who produces and who consumes data and information flows?
Digital literacy is not, therefore, about making a commercial pact with one of the big techs to offer workers technical knowledge to “send emails” or even “use PHP, Python codes, etc.” Digital literacy is about talking about history, politics, economics, and society from the perspective of technology and information. It means discussing disinformation, the digital truth-lie binomial, rights and freedoms in the digital world, as well as understanding its abuses and perceiving ways to produce and protect ourselves in this new world.
The half truth
The Regional Center for Studies on the Development of the Information Society (Cetic.br) states that around 24% of the Brazilian population has “basic digital skills”. The study is from 2020 and, by “basic digital skills” we mean[iii]: (a) copy or move a file or folder; (b) use a copy and paste tool to duplicate or move information within a document; (c) send emails with attached files; (d) transfer files between a computer and other devices.
It doesn't have to be any expert in education or political science to realize that none of the “digital skills” listed here – and which are constantly present in this type of report – have any chance of addressing the problems that threaten our society, such as the pandemic of disinformation, the displacement of people’s truth regime by digital effects, or even the news about Artificial Intelligence. In fact, our reports – guided by knowledge ‘for the market’ – completely ignore the biggest problems that hang over societies in the 21st century.
Is it true that we are experiencing “digital literacy by forceps” as the world changes and we are learning – in fits and starts – to avoid the problems that haunted us in 2013 or 2018? Yes. The graph below shows a certain “evolution” in digital capabilities measured between 2020 and 2023.
The graph fully validates the perception that “we are improving” in the digital issue, although the perception is only half true. We are improving in what the “market” deems to be necessary and sufficient skills for the uncritical use of technologies. Preferably keeping intact both the fetishization of technology and the fetishization of technology.[v] as the process of coloniality of knowledge.[vi] Ultimately, we do not have digital literacy, but rather an adaptation to the condition of subalterns in the world of digital technologies, which serves the interests of capitalism that sells digital products and profits from the use and maintenance of digital clientelism.
The lie
The impression that “we are improving” on social media, when analyzed more deeply, turns out to be a lie. First, because the entire process of adaptation (almost a search for survival) that we are undergoing to digital transformations only leads us to even greater dangers for which we are unprepared. In a recent survey commissioned by the Brazilian Public Security Forum (FBSP), 4,5 people are the target of attempted financial scams every hour in Brazil.[vii]
This is equivalent to saying that offering “connectivity” without vigorous digital literacy work can make the State an accomplice to digital crime, since it has provided the means for the criminal to reach the victim without warning or preventing them. Connectivity without digital literacy means loss of sovereignty, when it comes to a country, or increased exposure to danger, when it comes to individuals. The entire world is restricting digital access to social groups that are less capable of facing digital dangers. And it is not just the movement in schools,[viii] There are digital illiterates among the oldest and richest people in our societies.[ix]
Secondly, because all Brazilian initiatives are either out of focus on the problem or out of scale for what we actually need to do. Just look at the “National Digital Government Strategy” programs, the “Connected Schools” program or the “Brazilian Strategy for Digital Transformation”[X] to realize that no one speaks and seriously proposes a process of digital literacy along critical lines and restricts itself, at most, to talking about “basic digital skills” and amplifies the problem instead of solving it. In practice, the Brazilian population, in all age groups, is alone in facing the dangers of this digital world. Exactly as the “market” and the “bigtechs” actually want.[xi]
This lack of awareness of the scope of the need for digital literacy, as well as the scope of the negative effects of illiteracy, has left the Lula government practically incapable of offering any effective improvements to society in these matters.
Time wasted on ineffective programs or even on political and educational inactivity will exact a tremendously high price in 2026. There is no point in trying to solve the issue of misinformation only with norms, rules and punishments for bigtechs. The judicialization of a social problem should always come as a complementary measure (although necessary) to the process of informational and educational adequacy. In short, digital literacy is necessary.
The enormous danger
A video circulated this week that shocked some people. The US vice president (currently the Democratic candidate) is seen kissing her rival for president, Donald Trump, on the lips. It’s a video, with movement, changes in expression and everything else – and not just a photo. The current panic over the various applications that can have the set of data manipulation techniques that we now call “artificial intelligence” is due much more to our lack of digital literacy than to any real danger.
Image and video manipulation has existed since at least the 50s, and Hollywood has become a million-dollar industry doing so. What people don't know is that the cost (price) of doing these manipulations today is no longer available only to the big movie studios in the US, but now available to any young person around the world. Understand that today true information is paid for, and lies (misinformation) come to us for free.[xii] is part of this literacy.
The huge problem is that this forced literacy to which we are being subjected prepares us to understand the blows and dangers we have already experienced, but in no way prepares us for those that are yet to come. In practice, the digital experience acquired through means other than literacy conducted by educators and scientists works like a car with its headlights turned backwards. What it can illuminate does not enable us to understand what is coming ahead.
Without understanding the social, political, economic and cultural roots of digital transformations and the processes of coloniality and disinformation, it is impossible for us to be prepared to resist the slightest change in the use of digital tools in the future. The damage that Pablo Marçal is doing in the 2024 electoral campaign for mayor of São Paulo shows this.
We have failed to show that capitalism does not have replicable enrichment processes, and we are failing to show that the digital world is not a copy of, nor a recipe for, analog life. We have learned from what has already happened and there is no preparation for what is to come.
*Fernando Horta He holds a PhD in the history of international relations from the University of Brasília (UnB) and is a UN/UNDP consultant for digital transformations..
Notes
[I] I use a purposefully open-ended term here. “Digital issues” involve both the development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and their various uses and misuses within the socio-political spaces we share.
[ii] https://www.epsjv.fiocruz.br/noticias/dicionario-jornalistico/pedagogia-do-oprimido
[iii] https://sei.anatel.gov.br/sei/modulos/pesquisa/md_pesq_documento_consulta_externa.php?8-74Kn1tDR89f1Q7RjX8EYU46IzCFD26Q9Xx5QNDbqbIGuBQvTrV78dFpuB7IKQqoNrnZCOZ3jtE5kL3VAa5556cOPI5SUdQPc8loctKVzQanQNRvcIh1XFEKYys8Yfr, P. 6
[iv] https://agenciagov.ebc.com.br/noticias/202406/estudo-mostra-que-apenas-30-da-populacao-tem-habilidades-digitais-basicas
[v] Technology fetishization is the belief that technology alone can solve social, political and economic problems. This leads, for example, to judges believing that a certain digital tool can “improve the provision of justice” without necessarily realizing the abduction of sovereignty that this implies. https://www.migalhas.com.br/quentes/395504/barroso-pede-a-big-techs-criacao-de-chatgpt-para-uso-juridico
[vi] Coloniality of knowledge is the perception that a given technology is inaccessible to certain social strata or even countries and that they are left with no choice but to operate the technology without understanding how it works or who benefits from it. It is the equivalent of the training courses for machine operation that were offered in Brazil in the 60s and 70s and that today we know are insufficient for the country to move from being a consumer of technology to becoming a producer of technology. https://www.gov.br/trabalho-e-emprego/pt-br/servicos/trabalhador/qualificacao-profissional/caminho-digital.
[vii] https://www.cnnbrasil.com.br/nacional/datafolha-pais-tem-mais-de-45-mil-tentativas-de-golpe-financeiro-por-hora/
[viii] https://revistaeducacao.com.br/2023/07/18/uso-de-celulares-nas-escolas/
[ix] Uruguay is the Latin American country with the greatest progress in recognizing that digital illiteracy is not correlated with income or time spent studying, and has therefore developed literacy programs for people over 60 who even become economically productive through these new technologies, creating the term “silver economy”. https://seniortechventures.com/economia-prateada-na-america-latina/
[X] https://www.gov.br/mcti/pt-br/acompanhe-o-mcti/transformacaodigital/estrategia-digital; https://www.gov.br/governodigital/pt-br/estrategias-e-governanca-digital/estrategianacional/estrategia-nacional-de-governo-digital/; https://www.gov.br/mec/pt-br/escolas-conectadas
[xi] One of the most dramatic examples of the lack of digital literacy and how this issue impacts society as a whole is the deleterious effect that betting companies and betting companies have on the lives of the lower and middle classes today. While the government takes a pragmatic stance and focuses only on regulation (leaving literacy aside), society effectively loses money and quality of life. https://einvestidor.estadao.com.br/comportamento/vicio-em-apostas-online-dividas-depressao/
[xii] It is enough to see that all the good communication companies in Brazil maintain “paywall” that prevents you from even trying to check information, while at the same time, major mobile and internet operators offer “access to Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and similar services for free” without the user using up their data plan. In practice, the market pushes people without financial means to sources of misinformation, and bigtechs thank you.
