What is media literacy?

Although young girls grow up surrounded by screens and devices, being a “digital native” does not automatically mean knowing how to question what they see online.

According to the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE), media literacy is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media across formats, from images and videos to social media and digital platforms. At its core, media literacy teaches kids how to ask questions instead of passively absorbing content.

Common media literacy questions include:

• Who created this and why?

• Who is this message for?

• What details are missing or left out?

• How does this make me feel?

The goal of media literacy is not to tell kids what to think. It is to give them the tools to form their own opinions based on context, awareness, and critical thinking.

Where traditional media literacy falls short

Media literacy as a concept emerged decades ago, long before social media, filters, or artificial intelligence. Many early frameworks focused on text-based media, advertising, and persuasion, leaving significant gaps in how visual media is questioned.

Today, most media literacy efforts inside schools are inconsistent or limited. There is no national standard, and implementation varies widely by district, age group, and available resources. Even organizations leading the media literacy movement acknowledge that younger students often receive the least targeted instruction.

At the same time, classroom constraints make it difficult to embed media literacy meaningfully. Teachers face competing curricular demands, limited training, and little time to address rapidly evolving digital platforms. As a result, many programs focus on internet safety or anti-bullying, while deeper media literacy skills are overlooked.

This creates a gap between the media tweens consume every day and the tools they are given to understand it.

Why AI changes everything

Traditional media literacy was not designed for a world where images can be generated, faces can be reconstructed, and reality can be subtly altered in real time.

AI-powered media introduces new challenges, including beauty filters that reshape faces and bodies and algorithms that amplify manipulated content. While misinformation and fake news are important issues, they are not the primary drivers of harm for tween girls. Self-esteem is.

Tween girls are not experiencing distress because they misunderstand news headlines. They are struggling because they are repeatedly shown idealized, altered versions of what they are supposed to look like.

Most current media literacy frameworks do not adequately address this.

Why self-esteem must be at the center

Tween girls are in a critical stage of identity development. How they learn to see themselves during these years can shape their mental health, confidence, and self-worth long-term. When girls are exposed to manipulated images without understanding how they are created, comparison becomes internalized, and self-worth begins to erode.

This is where traditional media literacy falls short. Most frameworks focus on how media is produced, distributed, and consumed, but they do not place self-esteem at the center of the conversation. They explain how media works, without addressing how repeated exposure makes young girls feel negatively about themselves.

Any modern approach to media literacy must treat self-esteem as foundational, not secondary. Protecting how girls see themselves should be a core goal, not a side effect.

The solution: gurl core

gurl core was created to fill the gap that traditional media literacy leaves behind.

It is designed specifically for tween girls growing up in the age of AI, where media does more than inform. It shapes identity, appearance, and self-worth. gurl core places self-esteem at the center of media literacy.

Rather than relying on schools alone, gurl core uses a multi-touch approach that shows up in real life. Through guided journals, creative activities, and conversations with parents and trusted adults, girls are given tools they can actually use.

By embedding media literacy into daily routines and experiences, gurl core helps girls build resilience before harm becomes internalized. It is designed to grow alongside technology, adapting as new tools and platforms emerge.

The goal is not to predict the future of media. It is to give girls a foundation strong enough to navigate whatever comes next, while protecting the one thing that matters most: their sense of self.

Sources & further reading

• Center for Media Literacy: Definitions and foundational principles of media literacy

• National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE): Core principles and K–12 media literacy research

• Media Literacy Now: Advocacy organization focused on advancing media literacy education policy in the U.S.

• Digital mis/disinformation and children (2021): UNICEF research on digital media’s impact on young people

• Teaching the millennial generation through media literacy: Previous research done on media comprehension

• Media literacy in early childhood education: Guidance for implementing media literacy with adolescents

• State of media literacy in the U.S. (2024): Snapshot report on media literacy adoption, gaps, and implementation challenges