Research Article https://doi.org/10.12973/eu-jer.13.1.43 European Journal of Educational Research Volume 13, Issue 1, 43 - 54. ISSN: 2165-8714 https://www.eu-jer.com/ The Relationship Between the Daily Use of Digital Technologies and the Reading and Information Literacy Skills of 15-Year-Old Students Vida Lang * University of Maribor, SLOVENIA Andreja Špernjak University of Maribor, SLOVENIA Andrej Šorgo University of Maribor, SLOVENIA Received: March 8, 2023 ▪ Revised: May 4, 2023 ▪ Accepted: June 13, 2023 Abstract: Digital technologies in all forms have become ubiquitous in our media-rich, modern information society, but the connection between their use and information literacy is not always clear. This paper examines the impact of daily use of digital technologies on the reading and information literacy skills of 15-year-old students in Slovenia, based on data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 study. The study examines PISA 2018 variables related to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), as well as a reading task involving the use of ICT. The sample consists of 2612 Slovenian students with a gender distribution of 50.8% girls and 49.2% boys. The study explores students' experiences, enjoyment, self- efficacy, autonomy, and independence in using ICT and learning about its use and identifies two groups of students: one group that is curious and another that is cautious. The results of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM) show that the constructs of enjoyment, self-efficacy, learning, autonomy, and independence are highly/strongly correlated but have a low/insignificant impact on information literacy skills. Keywords: Information and communication technologies, information literacy, PISA2018, reading literacy, secondary school. To cite this article: Lang, V., Špernjak, A., & Šorgo, A. (2024). The relationship between the daily use of digital technologies and the reading and information literacy skills of 15-year-old students. European Journal of Educational Research, 13(1), 43-54. https://doi.org/10.12973/eu-jer.13.1.43 Introduction Digital technologies in all forms have become ubiquitous in our media-rich, modern information society, to such an extent that the European Union has recognized digital competence as one of the eight key competencies for lifelong learning (European Commission, 2019). Digital pocket, mobile, and desktop devices are used constantly and intensively not only by adults but even by children who cannot read or write. The paradox of this situation is that many children are at least partially computer and digitally literate even before they are "literate" in the traditional sense of the word “literacy” (Keefe & Copeland, 2011). The question arises whether the daily use of digital technology has contributed to an improvement not only in computer and digital literacy but also in general (European Commission, 2019) and information literacy (Mackey & Jacobson, 2011). For a review of different information literacy definitions and standards, see Boh Podgornik et al. (2016). Relations between literacy, information literacy, and digital literacy are by no means straightforward (Jones-Jang et al., 2021). For example, to access and use the functionalities of digital technology, digital literacy is a must. It is defined as the knowledge and skills a user needs to use computers, smartphones, and other digital devices (Knobel & Lankshear, 2006). In many uses of digital devices, such as playing games, work applications, and the like, information literacy, a concept closely related to digital literacy, is of secondary importance. On the other hand, information literacy is ubiquitous in all cases where a digitally literate person must acquire, select, and understand the meaning of information while being able to use that information across networks (Jones-Jang et al., 2021). Finally, someone can be literate by the traditional definition (Keefe & Copeland, 2011) without any knowledge of working with computers and therefore functionally digitally illiterate. Prensky (2001a, 2001b) refers to today's youth generation as "digital natives" and Wang et al. (2013) as the "digital fluent" because they were born into the digital age. For this reason, young people are expected to be proficient in the ubiquitous digital technologies that are now predominantly internet-based. However, findings from the study by Šorgo et al. (2017) suggest that mastery of software tools and frequent use of internet-based services do not necessarily mean * Corresponding author: Vida Lang, University of Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia.  vida.lang1@um.si © 2024 The Author(s). Open Access - This article is under the CC BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).