The Importance Of Digital Literacy In Era 4.0

Illustration. (Photo: Unsplash)

The Ministry of Communication and Informatics together with the Indonesian House of Representatives held a 'Seminar Merjut Nusantara' with a theme about Digital Literacy in Era 4.0 on Thursday 16 March.

The seminar, which was attended by around 200 participants, was held online with a duration of two hours starting at 09.30 WIB. The seminar was attended by three speakers, namely, Mukhlis Basri who served as Member of Commission 1 of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Yuliandre Darwis who is the Chairman of the ISKI Expert Council, and Hendri Yanzi, Deputy Dean of FKIP, University of Lampung. The running of this seminar was accompanied by M. Rafli Akbar as moderator in the discussion.

In his presentation, Mukhlis Basri as a member of Commission I of the DPR said that Bakti Nusantara was an activity initiated by Kominfo to provide internet services for remote areas in Indonesia. Kominfo builds telecommunication infrastructure in leading, outermost, and underdeveloped (3T) areas in Indonesia.

Regarding digital literacy in the industrial era 4.0, this is very important to understand by all Indonesian people, especially for youth. It is the youth who will later stand up to continue the leadership of this nation in the future. Therefore, the role of youth is very large and the state has high hopes for young people as candidates for future leaders who are capable of digital technology.

Of the 256.2 million Indonesian people, more than half of the population as many as 132.7 million people are internet users. Digital literacy is very important to improve the skills and skills of existing human resources so that they can build the country for the better. Literacy is important to increase critical human resources, initiatives, and creativity, able to understand information and make the best use of it for Indonesia's development.

In the second session filled by Yuliandre Darwis who served as Chairman of the ISKI Expert Council, he said that Bakti had a noble duty to advance the leading, outermost, and underdeveloped regions (3T). The increase in internet penetration (the percentage of people in a country that uses the internet) is important and the main goal of BAKTI Kominfo in providing telecommunications infrastructure services throughout Indonesia.

Based on data from GWI United Kingdom 2022, social media has a higher appeal than conventional TV. Social media reaches 148 minutes per day, and this shows that social media is the most popular and used information media by the public, and this data continues to increase every day. This data does not only cover social media consumption data in Indonesia, but also in all countries around the world.

Most people use and use the internet as a goal of establishing communication between families, especially when the COVID-19 pandemic hits the world. In addition, social media is also a way to find various unlimited information so that this also creates potential threats, such as cyber crime, phishing, and carding. In April 2022, it was recorded that there were 100 million cyber crimes that occurred in Indonesia, this data was obtained from the 2022 BSSN data.

The way that can be done as an effort to anticipate cybercrime is to increase digital literacy. The digital literacy segmentation of Indonesia includes digital culture (digital culture), digital ethics (digital ethics), digital skills (digital skills), and digital security (digital safety). From all these aspects, digital cultural literacy is the highest among others.

The government has established a personal data law to protect the public from cybercrime. Advances in digital technology must be used to facilitate work and increase productivity. Utilizing technology as best you can and maintaining personal data is important in the digital world.

Henri Yanzi, Deputy Dean for Student Affairs and Alumni of the University of Lampung FKIP conveyed the discussion on Digital Literacy in the Industry 4.0 Era in the third session. He said that digital literacy is very important for all people to be able to face the industrial era 4.0 which is currently running towards society 5.0. It is necessary to analyze and study digital literacy as a solution to various consequences that arise due to technological developments in the industrial era 4.0.

The development of science and technology is a gift as well as a challenge that must be faced. BAKTI Kominfo is one of the efforts to face challenges where internet access is still a limitation for remote areas in Indonesia. The development of this facility must be followed by developing thinking (in a way of view) of technology, skills in operating it, and most importantly, to remain good ethical.

Digital literacy must make us wise with technology. What is said to be technology literate is not only able to operate computer or internet devices, but also must be able to use them for benefit. Everyone knows digital literacy, but not everyone is capable and wise to use it. This is marked by the fact that there are many technological crimes.

All information obtained from digital technology must be validated first. Most people only spread all the information they get without finding out the truth of the information, this is what is meant by being incompetent and technology wise. Indicators that can be used to assess a person who is proficient in digital literacy are when technology can make an activity more practical, critical in various circumstances, data security is maintained, social culture is not eroded, and can use technology as a means of collaboration.

Information that continues to flow relentlessly can also be a challenge because it can make a person lost and swept away in information that is not necessarily true. This is where a good character role is needed, not just understanding the use of technology.

Technological developments can be useful (malahat) can also kill if not well controlled. Technology should be a tool to facilitate work, make it more skilled, critical, innovative, and wise in its use which can be done by changing the paradigm (the perspective) on digital technology.