“What is media literacy?”
Media Literacy is a framework for accessing, analyzing, evaluating, creating, and participating in communications in many media ranging from print to video to the Internet. Media literacy fosters a grasp of the function of media in society as well as the critical inquiry and self-expression abilities required of democratic individuals. It is people’s capacity to detect and utilize media correctly, which is their ability to comprehend, interpret, and assess media and media messages. [1].
” Why is it important?”
People need media literacy to grasp the messages that are being transmitted to them. With so many sources of information available today, media literacy may assist consumers in identifying trustworthy sources and filtering through the noise to find the truth. People who are media literate can identify biases in the media and how they may influence their impression of an event or topic.
” Open dialogues about media literacy and factual information can create conflict; why does this happen?”
Open dialogues about media literacy and factual information can create conflict because most individuals do not consider media literacy to be a consideration while using social media and do not want to exert additional effort to check the information they get as long as it corresponds to their beliefs and desires. This creates conflicts because people will ignore factual information if that does not align with their beliefs, desires or agendas. Nowadays, media employ tags, advertising, and caches to target audiences that are likely to agree with their news and information, even if it is not true, and the media will do this just for profit.
“What is the benefit of having a PLN that values media literacy?”
Having a PLN that values media literacy has a lot of benefits including:
- It enables us to absorb factual information or news from our PLN because they respect media literacy and are trustworthy, as opposed to the general media, which seeks to profit from their information.
- Lets individuals have access to a wealth of knowledge that may help them learn more and improve.
- Allows us to have constructive dialogues that will lead to individuals meeting halfway and making necessary modifications.
- People may use their PLNs to double-check information or news and confirm the trustworthiness of the information they receive.
To avoid fake news and disinformation that travels swiftly in this internet age when everything gets everywhere quickly without being fact-checked at all, it’s critical to have a PLN that values media literacy.
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