To-may-to. To-mah-to. The perfect example of why media literacy is important. How does it relate. Well let me explain. No matter how close we are to someone this expression illustrates exactly how different people can be. We are all entitled to our own opinion and when we produce anything thing from a video or a piece of literature, there is some type of bias in it. It is unavoidable to keep everything completely unbiased. Everyone from adults to children trust opinions that we see from people and it affects how we see the world as well as our morals and ethics. Spend the next few minutes with me contemplating why teaching media literacy to our children and teenagers is important among media and all of its perspectives.
Form the very start of any discussion of media literacy the first thing to understand is that we are exposed to media messages on a daily basis. Form advertisements to just general media messages they are constantly bombarding us. We taking in these messages (whether we actually think about them is another thing) and just go on with life the only time we actually pay attention to something is when we find something that sparks a little piece of our brain. A key word or phrase we have programmed in our minds from different likes and dislikes. With all of these messages swarming us we are completely influence by them. “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” (http://www.mediachannel.org/classroom/) The perspectives of each person are embedded in this Which is exactly why it is so important for us to create an awareness and teach children and teenagers media literacy.
In a child’s eyes what they see and hear is all new and learning for them. They may not be able to comprehend the plots and deeper themes of news and such but they are able to understand their own likes and dislikes. For advertisers this is great because Children see the colors and fun objects and then go tell mommy and daddy that they want this product. The same works for different fast food ads. Take Ronald McDonald for example. Children don’t realize that he is actually selling something they just like him and want to do what he does… including eating McDonald’s French fries. The children take one perspective and do not have the ability to comprehend that opinion of the advertisement. The media messages are a “fundamental in helping young people to become informed citizens who can actively and successfully communicate with society and the world.” (http://www.mediachannel.org/classroom/)
Unlike the younger children, teenagers can comprehend more meaningful parts of television or radio because they have the cognitive abilities to piece together themes; thus, making them susceptible to different types of perspectives at the start of the moral and ethical developments. Teenagers spend several hours of their day exposed to many media messages that all have different perspectives. Even though they may be exposed to different perspectives without know that they need to decipher the difference between all the messages. Not only the difference but what the goal of each is. The analysis of media messages is an active process. When you know what to do it becomes easier as you do it but most teenagers do not understand the concept of media literacy. Without knowing such concepts teenagers or children may be skewed easily by the media that they feed off of and form their opinions from.
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