"An Analysis of Media Literacy"
By: Thy Nguyen
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Intro
Did you know that eating carrots can cure your blindness and that all your back pain is caused by you not drinking enough water?
I’m serious. I’m seriously writing this and lying to you. What? You didn’t believe that did you? Well, my mom did. In fact, she once sent 3 Facebook posts to me, stressing me to eat more carrots and drink more water. But when one analyses all those videos she sent, it was obvious that many were spouting complete nonsense! However, the fact that someone actually believed that nonsense is where the problem lies. In the modern age, people are just one swipe away from reaching an endless amount of information, and for us to evaluate all this information, we need media literacy.
According to UNESCO, media literacy refers to the ability to “access, analyze, [and] evaluate” online information, but of course, there’s bound to be a minority who blindly believe whatever they see. Over time, however, we’ve begun to see this percentage of minority steadily rise at an alarming rate. Therefore, it remains ever the more crucial that today’s society learns of the causes and effects of media illiteracy, the importance of having digital skills, and the possible solutions to this dilemma.
Social Media
The first cause of society’s media illiteracy crisis might be slightly cliché as it’s been the talk of the past century: social media. Its capabilities are obvious, but as for why it’s so detrimental for us in this case is due to its grasp on our attention spans.
Unlike traditional news outlets, these platforms’ individual creators understand their audience’s main desire: deliver information as quick as possible. This understanding is what have led apps like TikTok to become so successful. In fact, a report by the BBC highlights that “TikTok users…in a study said they get more of their news from ‘other people they follow’ than from [official accounts of news anchors] (Anonymous, Teens shun traditional news channels for TikTok and Instagram)”
This lack of care from people for the source of their news causes false information to run rampart, because at the end of the day, those independently owned accounts have no incentive to inform. For many, their main purpose is to entertain, and yet, we as a collective have seemingly ignored that.
Collectivism
What makes social media so addictive despite the clear consensus that they can be quite problematic? Simply put, it’s the sense of community it provides. When online, people begin to relate to strangers they’ve never met, learn information they wouldn’t have known otherwise: it’s a hub meant to connect people.
However, many have decided to abuse this open space to begin encouraging the concept of “anti-intellectualism.” According to Hiebert, a sociology professor at University of Manitoba, in his 2023 article, “The Rise of Anti-intellectualism,” he explains these anti-intellectualists’ main arguments, with the most famous being:
“Pursuing knowledge is unnecessary unless wielded for practical means (Hiebert, The Rise of Anti-intellectualism)”
To put in other words, or by the more popular phrase: “just let people enjoy things, sometimes the curtains are just blue.”
Honestly, that mentality is fine. Not everything has or needs meaning behind it. However, at the same time, that does not entail that nothing has meaning, and unfortunately, society has started to confuse this. This mindset that not everything has meaning has given the people an excuse to not try to know any more than what they are given. And frankly, one cannot have media literacy if people are choosing to give up analyzing in general.
Lack of proper education
Despite the previous issues, one stands above them both: society’s clear lack of an education for digital literacy. Education is what drives knowledge and people’s understanding of the world. Yet, it was discovered that, in a survey conducted by Media Literacy Now and The Reboot Foundation in 2022, only “4 out of 10…participants were taught to analyze…news stories for bias and credibility in high school (Media Literacy Now, National Survey Finds Most U.S. Adults Have Not Had Media Literacy Education in High School)”
Whether from a lack of funding or care, these schools are essentially depriving a majority of the population the ability to protect themselves from the internet. If people are not even taught the bare basics, it’s no wonder so many fall victim to online manipulation.
Vulnerability to Scams
Media of the present is evolving beyond our expectations. With a little help from our AI buddies, mundane research that would’ve taken an hour, shrinks to a 5-minute read summary. It’s incredible what it can do to help, but due to its versatility, it’s equally frightening what it can do to harm.
With Ai’s ability to quickly produce AI-generated misinformation, threats of deepfakes and disinformation continue to only grow. Unfortunately, the biggest victim caught up in of all this is none other than the media illiterate population.
A 2024 article by Sainsbury, a multi-disciplinary IT journalist, explains that these individuals are “more likely to fall prey to [cyber security threats]” than anyone else (Sainsbury, Low Media Literacy: A Risk to Australia’s Cybersecurity Landscape).
And it’s not just a few security threats. A CNN article last year found that “a…worker at a multinational firm was tricked into paying out $25 million to [cybercriminals who were] using deepfake technology (Chen & Magramo, Finance worker pays out $25 million after video call with deepfake ‘chief financial officer).”
Digital illiteracy is no longer just a matter of security but can also impact one’s finances.
Susceptible to poor decision making
Let’s take a break from the present and step back to the past for a bit, most notably, Covid six years ago. Ingrained in all our memories, it was a time where we were all stuck indoors and hung out with our best friends, our phones and beds, on the daily. However, every day, as the hours seem longer from our constant boredom, there was seemingly more restrictions and more casualties by the day. While there was not much to physically do, it was mental gymnastics people had to go through. Many face a behemoth of questions ringing in their minds daily, ranging from whether their family was safe to when a vaccine will be produced. The anxiety these questions sparked quickly took people to the internet in desperation for answers, but the internet is not always honest
According to a 2021 article by the Iran University of Medical Sciences, there was no end to “false, complex, and contradictory information” regarding vaccines or safety precautions (Iran University of Medical Sciences, The Relation between Media Literacy and COVID-19 Vaccination). For people who lack the ability to discern misleading from accurate news, it was a constant struggle of being perpetually scared while also being unable to make decisive choices. Ultimately, this led to vaccine hesitancy, prolonged the pandemic, and caused regrettably preventable deaths and illnesses.
Solution
How do we fix a problem as large of media illiteracy? We don’t have to start big. Instead, we can just start within ourselves and target our capacity to learn.
Increase Media Literacy Education
With how crucial schools are in our constant journey of learning, society must come together and provide a push for these institutions to educate students about the needed skills to staying safe online.
We need to speak to school boards, explain the consequences, and push them to provide classes with trained educators for students to learn from. Although many have shown their lack of knowledge regarding the media literacy, there are those who are willing to learn. When Media Literacy Now asked participants in 2023 if students should learn digital skills in, “84%...agreed” (National Survey Finds Most U.S. Adults Have Not Had Media Literacy Education in High School).”
The consensus is clear: only a generation that has been properly educated can hope to create a future where everyone can feel safe online.
Spread Public Awareness for Critical Thinking
Equal to education is our need to question what we see and do the appropriate research on said topic. Essentially, users need to apply critical thinking, something we are, ironically, critically missing.
In a world where information can be published by practically anyone online, the ability to assess a work’s credibility is a need. A 2024 article on the European School Education Platform explains that one of the most crucial skills to staying safe online is one that exercises “judgement, reasoning and analysis skills” (European School Education Platform, Critical Thinking: A Life Skill in the Internet Era). Critical thinking is a strong contender for a habit that encompasses all those qualities.
Conclusion
Should one leave with anything from this article, it should be this one message: not blindly trusting everything online is healthy. In the end, this healthy relationship one has with online information is what will propel one’s own success in life.
Bibliography
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