Literacy and Media Language
Guest Authors: Barbara Bazarewicz and Klaudia Bogdanowicz
2nd Year Students at the MA in English Philology, University of Białystok, Poland
There is no doubt that the media has evolved into one of the most important providers of information. Nowadays the news is available at any time in all forms, including print, radio, television, digital sources, and social media. The overabundance of information is attacking people everywhere they go. Even if the method of disseminating information has evolved over the decades with the advancement of new technology, individuals still attempt to keep up with the latest news concerning occurrences all over the world.
At the same time, the media is blasting the society with vital information about current advances in science and technology, as well as penetrating political situations and wrongdoings. Of course, one may argue that over the years the media content and target have changed and there is a tendency to produce soft news concerning celebrities and show business as well. But the true question is what the media’s true intentions are? Is their main aim to supply the readers with news stories about current affairs, or to influence the societies with their content?
Due to changes in the world around us, the concept of new literacies was created. Lankshear and Knobel (2012 online) claim that new literacies are best understood in the context of a long historical period of social, cultural, institutional, economic, and intellectual transformation, some of which has already passed. New literacies are associated with a core idea and a rising social concept. Media literacy is a rather new concept based on the general notion of literacy and is strictly connected with society.
As today’s communications come in a variety of formats, media literacy can no longer be defined just as the ability to read and write. Livingstone (2004) defines it as “the ability to access, analyse, evaluate and create messages across a variety of contexts”. According to media literacy, the conscious reader is able to decode mass media messages based on their contents and source, as well as notice and evaluate the impact of the broadcast news on the readers — their attitudes, emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. Potter (2010 online), among other scholars, agrees that media literacy should be mainly considered as a critical cultural issue. The graphic below shows the increase in the frequency of teen use of social media.
Moreover, the scholar (2010 online) emphasizes that with the constantly increasing role of the media and its influence on its receivers, it is crucial to teach the younger generations to apply critical thinking while receiving the news, and in some cases while creating their own message. With the development of social media and platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, and/or TikTok, young people can swiftly gain lots of followers and become influencers. Unfortunately, it exposes young people to watching and creating inappropriate content. Although the body of research on media literacy interventions remains small, it is rising. According to Potter (2010 online), it can be divided into several categories: violence, sexual portrayals, health, stereotypes, and fear inducing content. The above-mentioned categories can make teens adopt bad role models that are based on violence or bad habits. Special attention should be paid to this as it is during this period that young people learn the most. Their attention needs to be directed to valuable accounts that are aimed at education.
To sum up, media literacy, although relatively new, has gained recognition in many circles. By answering the question asked at the beginning of the essay, it can be concluded that mass media creates its own version of reality and has a significant impact on the receivers of their message. Further research in the field revealed that there are both valuable and less qualitative materials published by the media concerns and social media creators. Common sense and solid content quality assessment are the keys to gain knowledge and the proper information. In a nutshell, people need to choose the content wisely and avoid such materials that attempt to sway them into portraying the world in a certain manner.
References
Lankshear, C., & Knobel, M. (2012) ‘New’ literacies: technologies and values. Revista Teknokultura, 9(1), 45–69.
Livingstone, Sonia (2004) What is media literacy? Intermedia, 32(3), 18–20.
Potter, W. J. (2010). The State of Media Literacy. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 54(4), 675–696.
3 Interesting Stats About Teens’ Use of Social Media — Marketing Charts
https://www.marketingcharts.com/demographics-and-audiences/teens-and-younger-105750
