Coming into this class I really did not think too much on my level of media literacy or on how much of an impact it has on society. Media literacy in basic terms is basically having the ability to assess the meaning of any kind of message sent by the media. One can not be totally media literate or completely media illiterate, instead it is more of a continuum that we find ourselves placed on. So, as we grow older and as media increasingly surrounds us in our day to day lives, it is very important we work on our media literacy.
Practicing and increasing your media literacy is increasingly important, especially in todays world. The media is constantly in our lives and we are constantly shuffling through its messages whether we know it or not. There are three building blocks to increasing our media literacy that we as people need to be aware. The first is our personal locus, or in other words what drives our media use and what are our interests when using media. The more we apply this the more that we will be involved in the media messages we are receiving. The second block is our knowledge structures. This is taking the information we receive through media and applying it to things in our memory. This helps us to understand the information more, and therefore see deeper into the meaning of the message. Finally, the last block is our skills. Skills help us mine through piles of factors, which again helps us to understand the message further.
Using these basic blocks is how we interpret messages from media that surround us, and the more we practice and become aware of them, the more our media literacy will increase. It is important that we increase our media literacy because it allows us to create our own opinions on messages given to us, and not just follow in the footsteps of everyone else.
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