Media Literacy

What is Media Literacy and why is it important?
Having easy access to information over the Internet exposes us to a lot of information on a daily basis.  Sometimes it is hard to know if the information you do see is real or not.  Being able to sort out what is “fake news” and what is real by using critical thinking skills to analyze what you are seeing is what Media Literacy is about.
Here are a few critical thinking skills that you can use the next time you are looking for information on the Internet:

• Identify information that you know is false.
• Having knowledge on that particular subject to know what is accurate.
• Knowing the difference between what is actual news and what is an advertisement.
• Determining how credible the source is that you are looking at. 

Further, as you begin to critically think about the information, ask yourself these five questions:

1. Who was the creator of the media message?
2. What kind of techniques did the creator use in order to capture your attention?
3. What do you think other peoples’ experience will be when they look at this message?
4. What are the points of view or values in the message, and what ones do you think were left out?
5. What do you think the intended purpose of the message is?

By using these suggestions when you are viewing media messages online it will help you to:

• Increase your critical thinking skills
• Begin to understand how media messages can literally influence our society and culture
• Have a better understanding of strategies that companies use to target certain groups or age levels, for example:

          *(Did you know that developers of vape products initially used media messages that targeted young people?)

• Understand that those who create media messages usually want us to do something or believe something
• The more you begin to critically analyze media messages you will start to recognize that media creators are often bias to a particular subject or may use false information to get you to believe what they want you to
• There might be parts of the story that are missing (often this happens because those missing pieces might contradict what the message is trying to say or the point they are trying to get across, or even prove that the message is false
• Eventually, you will begin to look at media messages through your own personal lens based on your own experiences, values and beliefs

Reference:
https://youthtoday.org/2017/01/media-literacy-help-youth-think-critically-in-age-of-fake-news/