The Need for Media Literacy

Terminology

Media – noun, plural of “medium”

Medium is a specific form or means of sending or communicating messages or information; the tool by which the message is communicated, e.g., TV, newspaper

Mass media – a section of media specifically designed to reach a very large audience

Each mass medium has specific vehicles, e.g., Fox, ABC, CNN, etc.

Mass Media Message Types (re: Content)

Entertainment
News
Propaganda
    Commercial: advertising
    Political: governmental / non-governmental
    Social
Information - educational / factual

NB: these categories may overlap

Mass Media Types (re: Form)

broadcast media
print media
recorded media
visual media
computer-based

NB: there is no one proper classification scheme

Message Saturation

A proliferation of messages comes to us through the mass media

More information is produced at an ever increasing rate - 30% each year

The information problem has shifted from one of gaining access to one of how to keep up with all the information

Outcomes of Information Saturation

1: Passive Processing

We can’t keep up all the information so we are forced to passively process

We place our minds on automatic and filter from consciousness most of the messages

Our minds operate without any conscious effort from us and we are largely unaware of what we see or hear

Passive processing - a state of inattentiveness - is a very efficient means of filtering out messages

Active processing, i.e., consciously filtering in messages, may be initiated by "triggers" which grab our attention

Self-determined (selective perception)
Media-determined

If we are not actively processing information – the media messages – then we are passively processing them

When we passively process, we are not in control of the messages, rather the messages control us by subconsciously
    - Creating associations
    - Reinforcing ideas
    - Implanting images, sounds, ideas
    - Etc.

Yet we have no choice -  we must passively process simply because there is too much media to actively process

2: Information Fatigue

We are fatigued by all the information and try to avoid it

Many of the avoided messages could be very valuable to us

Thus, rather than enhancing our lives, additional information may lessen our control over our lives

Strategies for dealing:

prioritize
shift/share the load
block reception

These strategies may relieve the fatigue but they do not address the fact that valuable messages may be missed.

3: False Feeling of Being Informed

Because we are bombarded with so much information, we think we are informed

However, being informed depends on the quality, not the quantity, of information 

Most information we are exposed to is of little qualitative value

Since we think we are informed we do not seek out qualitatively superior information and so we remain ill-informed

4: Faulty Beliefs

Data smog leaves us vulnerable to faulty beliefs

Much of our information is gathered in the mode of passive processing and this often inaccurate.

Inaccurate insofar as it is

based on partial understandings
facts without context
facts that may be out of date
facts that are in conflict with other facts

Paradox – with increase of information, there may be a corresponding decrease of knowledge

^ information →  ^  passive processing → ^ faulty beliefs

Paradox - counter the construction of faulty beliefs caused by media saturation with media

Actively process
Quality media

Need for Media Literacy

Information saturation has many outcomes

Media literacy entails understanding those outcomes

If we understand those outcomes, we can avoid many of their detrimental effects