1.What is the benefit of having a PLN that values media literacy?

The benefit of having a PLN that values media literacy as Julie expanded on, is having a constant stream of people that can support your ideas as well as share their own insights. Julie shares that media literacy is a crucial skill to have for the 21st century because we (children, adolescents and adults) process images faster than words. Media literacy allows us to critically think about all forms of media we take in on a daily basis. Since our brains are conditioned to absorb and process the information being projected to us, the messages, however, are not always true and/or accurate. News stations are a perfect example of a business highlighting certain stories and targeting a specific audience for ratings, view count or user engagement. This is a form of bias that we don’t consider, even though we would love to think that news channels have our best interest at hand. Julie cautions the public as we have thousands of news articles to consider, we must choose the honest ones instead of ones that agree with our personal beliefs. Julie also shares that “we tend to be more interested in what we believe than what is true” (Julie). This, however, is one of the sole reasons why businesses target an audience that they know they can reach and manipulate. Therefore, media literacy allows us to answer several of the big questions involving media; what subliminal messages are companies trying to send? What are the company’s intentions regarding the users? Why are they portraying it a certain way? Etc. Media literacy teaches the user to ask “why?” and “what if?” while engaging in active critical thinking regarding the subject. Then the individual will make an informed decision based on what benefits themselves personally.

 

2. Open dialogues about media literacy and factual information can create conflict, why does this happen?

Media literacy encourages individuals to question, evaluate, and understand their multimedia culture. It teaches them to become active, engaged media consumers and users. Media literacy is important because it allows consumers to critically think about the messages they’re receiving from media. Mainstream media has been evolving immensely since the beginning of the internet. News stories prior to the internet were shared via newspapers, radio, flyers, and television, currently, media has expanded to videos, pictures, memes, gifs, videogames, advertisements, and social media. Through these means of communication, were constantly receiving information that may or may not be true. It may contain non-factual information, bias, opinions, rants etc. Propaganda is a prime example of false media representation. This can create much conflict; as in the past, it has created wars. A keynote to remember is that media can be circulated to people over the world in the span of seconds. These messages being sent have the power to influence and manipulate consumers’ purchasing. This creates conflict because you’re building a false trust with consumers on a product that may not have any benefit to them. Clearly, human rights conflicts can occur- how far is too far?  Currently, we are seeing conflict in the influencer industry on social media. Influencers have been caught promoting health, fitness, business, beverage, clothing etc. products that have false claims and/or pro. Finally, conflict in the field of media literacy and factual information will always be a battle lost. With millions of users being able to access all of the internets

 

References:

Miller J. (2020). EDCI 338 A01 – Smith, Julie. Retrieved from: https://youtu.be/Z_T9RghwJlI