What Is Media Literacy?

illustrates how we are stuck and trapped by media

What is media literacy really? When you look at the word you could just take it at it's suface meaning and asume one of several things. Is it the ability to read and interpret different forms of communication? Is it the ability to understand what a film is trying to communicate to the audience? Is it the ability of a person simply to know what media is?

The answer is yes to all these questions but it is also so much more. There are many facets to media literacy and would be difficult to describe in full detail every facet there is. So we must take a broader look at the subject and try to break it down into components that are easy to digest and understand.

There are many schools of thought on how to bring media literacy to the discussion table. Some believe that it is simply the ability to be aware of the media forces that surround us on an every day level. Others can see far deeper into the matter and bring out facets that have very little connection with the world around us. The fact of the matter is that no matter what school of thought you choose to follow, every one of them as got some grain of truth in what they are trying to say.

Media literacy is hard to define. So what I will attempt to do is simply bring up some broad points and observations about media literacy without going into tremendous detail about them. As stated before there are many ways to define it and even more ways to study it so a broad analysis is the best way to approach it.

One definition of media literacy is stated as being the ability to process and analyze the information presented to us everyday in entertainment, informative, and capital outlets. The basis is to try and ask questions and think critically about the media that is presented to us. We have the capability to go deeper into the advertisements and entertainment that we see everyday. Whether or not we do so is where media literacy comes into play.

There are several different ways that we can analyze these media outlets. Certainly we must take them into consideration because each way of looking at them will yield a different conclusion while looking at the exact same thing. One site has taken on the challenge of informing the world about media literacy in order to prepare us for living in a world where we are bombarded daily with media. The Center for Media Literacy has a very basic but very important way of educating on the topic. They have a four step process to understanding the media; Awareness, Analysis, Reflection, Action. This basically means to identify the information, analyze what it means, think of how it relates to you, and do what you deem best about this information.

These are all very critical ways of looking at media literacy and they are extensive. However, these are ways to view it from an academic and very scholarly view point. What about our culture and everyday level? How does it relate to me?

Well we can take that into consideration as well. When we are watching a movie or surfing the internet, try not to just be a sponge and soak up every drop of information highway road kill. Take a second and actually think about what is being put in front of your eyes. If we actually take the time to SEE what we're LOOKING at, we would discover that the world has got a lot more out there for us then just what our eyes are telling us.

Many of the things that are presented to us in the media don't even register on a conscious level. They are worked into our sleeping minds and our planted there and influence our thoughts and actions without us even knowing about it. This is where the everyday part comes in. We can't just sit there and let whatever the world wants to throw at us seep into our minds. We should regulate it and actually scrutinize what we allow ourselves to think about. Without the conscious thought about the media, we would all just become zombies and do whatever the talking heads tell us to do.

Media Studies can be a very scholarly and academic pursuit, but it should also be a personal issue for all of us. Without the media we wouldn't be the society we are today. Without media studies, we would all just be what society told us to be without exercising our free will.