Surrounded by it everywhere, everyday: Why we need media literacy

The Alliance for a Media Literate America website at www.amlainfo.org has a quote that says “we must prepare young people for living in a world of powerful images, words, and sounds. –UNESCO/1982” In order to accomplish this they must become media literate.

In Media Literacy by James W. Potter, he defines Media Literacy on page 22 as “a set of perspectives that we actively use to expose ourselves to the media to interpret the meaning of the messages we encounter.” Media literacy is very important for today’s society because we spend more time with the Media than we do outside of these technologies. It is hard not too, because we are surrounded by all different forms of media everyday. Because of this, we are subject to information overload from all of the information we are receiving from the different forms of media. This leads to information fatigue which says on page 7 of Media Literacy that “the media present so many messages and aggressively compete for our attention that we have no choice but to retreat into the state of automaticity.” Automaticity “is a state where our minds operate without any conscious effort from us (5).” This is bad news, and is the trap that many individuals fall subject too. However, becoming media literate is a good way to fight this trap.

There are five things individuals need to be aware of when becoming media literate. These are: being aware of media affects, media content, and media industry, as well as have a good sense of the real world, and a clear sense of self and how we interact with the media. There is a quote from David Considine, on www.mediachannel.org that says “Media Literacy: the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and communicate information in a variety of formats.” We should be media literate because as www.mediachannel.org says “the mass media affect how we perceive and understand the world and people around us. From what we wear, eat, and buy to how we relate to ourselves and others.” The purpose of media literacy is “to empower individuals to control media programming (25)” and construct their own meaning from the media messages.

Becoming media literate is hard to instill into an adult, much less a child, but becoming so is being incorporated into classrooms and homes everywhere, for a good reason. It is important to understand though as said on www.medialit.org, that media literacy “is not about “protecting” kids from unwanted messages.” Because even though you can turn the TV off, or not let your kids get video games with any sort of violence, media is surrounding us, and is almost completely unavoidable. So instead of just watching, or listening, or observing different forms of media passively, students should be urged to “become competent, critical, and literate (www.medialit.org)” in the different media forms. Team Media Literacy says on www.preventionalliance.com that “just as children not only need to be taught to read, but also comprehend what they are reading, media literacy teaches people how to comprehend what they are consuming.”

Affects of Media

I think that media definitely can have a huge impact on people. Media can affect other emotions, besides violence, or bring out other behaviors in people, besides just violence. It can also cause people to want to make a difference. The form of media I will be touching on is movies.

I think one of the main reasons I am not affected by violent movies, is because of my lack of degree of identification. Normally, I do not identify with any of the characters in these kinds of movies, therefore I am not affected. Sociological factors such as my parents, friends, church, and how I was raised also have an affect on the influence violence in movies has on me. I live in a quiet neighborhood, where I was always taught violence is not the answer, and have never experienced anything first hand that I would consider violent. Through these norms that I have consistently been exposed to in my everyday lifestyle, I am able to avoid the behavioral manifestation of aggression that others who were not brought up like I was might experience. Also because of my personal locus I am able to discern which effects I want to become manifested in me and which I do not.

Some movies that I watch though do have an affect on me. I watched the movie Crash about two years ago, and things about it still bother me to this day. Crash is about racism and prejudices between all different races and people. It has violence in it, but the way it affected me was not too make me act aggressively. Although I do not really have a degree of identification with any of the characters in this film, and the affect it has on me is probably not even anywhere near the affect it has on other people who have actually experienced something close to what is shown in this film, it still affected me. Movies that are based on real life and things that actually occur have the most influence on me. And the fact some humans treat people that are different than them the way that we do, as shown in Crash just makes me sad and makes me want to do something about it. I think that movies like this manifest a motivation of wanting to change or do something about the injustices in the world, in certain people. Therefore, although some movies can evoke aggressive behavior and negative feelings in people, it can also cause people to want to make a difference.

I hope in the future I can use media as a tool to learn by using my cognitive abilities. I want to be motivated to seek out more information about what I am shown through different forms of media, instead of just believing everything I see or hear.

American Idol appears to be the most popular show on broadcast television on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and in my personal opinion, for good reason. For the week of March 24, 2008, American Idol on Tuesday, which is of all the contestants singing, received a rating of 14 with 24.758 million viewers. The results show of American Idol on Wednesday, which says who got kicked off for that week, had a rating of 15.2 with 25.742 million viewers.

There are many other well liked shows on at the same time as American Idol and their ratings would most likely increase if they were moved to another time or day. ABC is the second most popular network for the 8 PM time frame for Tuesdays American Idol. This is because of the also extremely well liked TV show “Dancing with the Stars.” CBS was third with “NCIS”, NBC fourth with “The Biggest Loser,” and the CW last with “Beauty and the Geek.”

I have spoken to some people, old and young alike and most agree that they are at a loss as to what to watch on Tuesday Night because there are so many options and there are at least two of the five choices that they do not want to miss at all. Most of them watch one program and switch to another at commercials. This is frustrating for some people because they are not very impressed with the selection of television shows all of the other days of the week, and then all of their favorites are on the same night at the same time. However, to others they figure Tuesdays are the best day for these shows because they could care less about most of them, and like the fact that they do not interfere with the shows that they enjoy.

The ratings of some television shows would greatly benefit from being moved to another time or day. Although the rating of “Dancing with the Stars” is pretty high, it is still behind “American Idol.” If it were moved to another time, it might be the most popular for that night. But who knows? Because then it would have to compete with other shows that would be on at that time. This could cause a whole other issue. It all depends on personal preference, but I feel strongly that if all of these popular shows were on a different day or time, their ratings would go up.

Amusing Ourselves to Death

As I am sitting here writing this post, the TV is on behind me. The internet and the opportunity to visit pointless websites, as well as getting on instant messenger to “chat” are right at my fingertips. My cell phone is also right beside me just in case someone important calls, and iTunes is calling for me to download new songs. So although “Amusing Ourselves To Death” relates to our lives today as much as it did in 1985, there are so many more distractions now more than 20 years later, than just television.

TV is becoming even more relevant and accessible through these other forms of media. You can now watch certain TV shows on the internet, can download them from iTunes, and can buy the DVD’s to watch your favorite episodes over and over again. Page 92 of “Amusing Ourselves to Death” says that “Television is our culture’s principal mode of knowing about itself.” This is true because it is so much easier to watch something then to take the time to read about it, although sometimes seeing something on TV encourages us to read more about it. Also, how many times do we refer to things that we saw on TV as opposed to a book or newspaper that we read?

Because of the electronic media that is so prevalent all around us, we don’t pay too much attention to books and newspapers. Television still is one of the primary means of communication for the culture that we live in today. We watch the news instead of reading the newspaper, and we even get caught up in dramas and sitcoms on TV and think that what happens on these shows is really how life is. We are receiving a skewed view of reality. This is especially being reinforced by all of the supposed “reality” TV shows.

The internet is also extremely relevant and important in the way we communicate today. It may even be more popular than the TV in terms of being used as a means of communication and showing the changing culture that we live in today. I would like to read a book that Neil Postman writes about the internet and everything surrounding it.

Are you Currently Experiencing Current.com?

Current.com is a new and upcoming news website that allows individuals to explore current news topics as well as share their own news stories. The beginning video that can be watched when first entering the site is very helpful for a first time visitor. Although it is goofy and lame, it allows the visitor to get a quick overview of what the site is about, what it includes, and what can be expected and done while using it. Although this site can be beneficial to old and young a like, it appears to be aimed more toward the younger crowd. However almost anyone who longs for balance and the ability to share opinions in the news world can appreciate this site.

The four main aspects on this site are: explore, connect, contribute, and watch. Explore enables viewers to find current news stories about topics they care about. Connect enables people to create a profile in order to share their interests. Contribute allows individuals to make their own news stories, and have a say in current ones. And finally, you can watch the TV network that you and other current.com participants have created. The TV networks that show current.com are direct TV, dish network, Comcast, and AT&T u-verse. So if you are fortunate enough to have these channels, you are on your way to beginning your current.com journey.

Media Literacy by W. James Potter tells us on page 126 that “the media are highly selective in what they choose to show us each day.” Therefore, with current.com, if you do not see a news story that you think is important on the site, you can add it. One news site is not going to give you all of the news that you need to know. In order to be media literate you must “search out a wide range of sources and build stronger knowledge structures that provide you with the context that mainstream news programs do not (126)” Although the news stories on current.com may not be on the most important topics all the time, participants can change this by adding the news stories that are important to them. By exploring other news sites contributors are able to find and add new stories, therefore expanding their wealth of knowledge about what is going on in the world, and what is really important.

Current.com prides itself on taking a look at what is going on in the world from a fresh perspective- that of the viewers. Although, this is good because it enables people to explore topics that interest them, it might not be the news that is the most important. This does however, allow for a many topics to be shown and discussed, whether they be relevant to our life, news from another country, or just amusing, inspiring, or interesting. The aim of this news site is to connect to every facet of life.

Fans vs. Favorites

I have never actually watched Survivor the whole way through until I watched the episode today on the internet. And I actually really liked it.

I think there is some truth in the statement that Alexis made, but she also did not take into consideration all of the things that were not shown on the TV show in past episodes. They pick out certain aspects, the most interesting obviously, to put on the show. But the hour episode that we watch does not give us a full picture of everything that has gone on, and cannot even give us a full idea of someone’s personality. Therefore, although the fans might have an advantage because they think they know the favorites game, they don't know everything by any means.

The statement Alexis made shows a view that many people watching reality TV probably think. While we’re watching we don’t take into consideration all of the video footage we do not see. I think in some instances it is ok to just watch a TV for the fun of it without but sometimes it is necessary or unavoidable for us to analyze what we are watching, so that we do not have a skewed view of reality.

Max Headroom

Media Literacy is “a set of perspectives that we actively use to expose ourselves to the media to interpret the meaning of the messages we encounter.” The purpose is to “gain more control over programming how you interact with the media messages and construct your own meaning from them.”

“Max Headroom” was a short-lived TV series that aired from 1987-1988. It was a look into the future kind of TV show that was about the news station Network 23. The episode that we watched was called “War.” In this episode another news station called Break Thru TV planned different “terrorist” attacks so that they could be the first to report on them therefore making them better then Network 23.

The thing that stuck out most to me in this episode was the media content. Break thru TV went too many extremes to plan what was going to happen so they could report on it right away showing that they had control over the programming of their show. However, the news stories that Break thru TV reported on right away probably wouldn’t have occurred if they weren’t trying to come out on top. This goes to show that sometimes the content we receive from media is not always accurate, even if it is the news.