Author: Alfred Junco
Date: May 8, 2019
Link: https://thriveglobal.com/stories/how-can-technology-promote-financial-literacy-among-youths/#:~:text=Financial%20literacy%20may%20be%20defined,to%20start%20learning%20about%20finance.
As per most other sources explaining financial literacy among youths, Junco also mentions that this crucial topic has not had the attention it deserves with 1300 youths scoring an average of 58% on a national financial literacy examination and 85% of the students remaining at school having debt.
Junco has listed a few interesting takes on how to improve financial literacy among teens: the first one being that we embrace the gaming culture. Teenagers’ tech literacy being inevitably on a rise is not news. With the combination of new technological advancements and the rise in gaming as a hobby, many teenagers don’t need particular aid in learning how to become tech savvy (unlike the available sources in understanding financial literacy) and many of them even become more proficient than their parents. A more virtual and game-centered approach can and should be applied to financial literacy as well the way tech literacy has become.
Another change that can be applied to improving children’s financial literacy is changing up the medium. Many sources, such as books and courses, include a single-path learning system which can be daunting for some students that go through different learning curves. Junco suggests financial literacy apps that focus on audiovisual content as that is the quickest way to draw attention to its users.
Lastly, Junco suggests the increased involvement of parents for the child’s improvement as parents can have significant effects on the child’s behavioral, skill-based, and habitual learning. Even if that starts from just giving the child an allowance and teaching the child how to care for it can take the child a long ways.
Analysis
The connection between the rise in gaming & tech savviness and financial literacy is a valuable insight Junco drew. Even taking a few seconds to think of a solution to improve financial literacy, creating a game is one of the first options that might come up simply because of the fun factor, but there is also proof that teenagers’ technological literacy has skyrocketed over the past decade without having particular courses or books that students go through to learn which, if taken similar steps, can translate into a new option to improve their financial literacy as well. As this is something most parents also acknowledge, having a product to engage the two parties could also lead to a tradeoff between the two skills!
