The Media- What is it telling us

I have to say this assignment was really interesting and made me consider how media effects my life. When I googled Media Literacy, i found that it has a variety of meanings. By definiton Media Literacy is a repertoire of competences that enable people to analyse, evaluate and create messages in a wide variety of media modes, genres and forms. It can also means to gather, access, consume, evaluate, make sense, create, produce, repurpose, understand, share, communicate, think critically, think creatively, and act responsibly.

When reflecting on this assignment, i immediately started to pondering about how the media affects my own life. Today's youth and young adults are constantly bombarded by messages and images from television, magazines, advertisements,newspapers computers etc. Adolescents are also constantly faced with decisions about what clothes to purchase, phone to buy, music to listen to and what social network to join. In addition to these decisions, adolescents are also influenced by their peers, because like all of us they want to fit in. To fit in adolescents sometimes feel that they have to conform to popular culture; neglecting their own personal identities- what they value and like for the latest fad.

When watching a video on Youtube called " Advertising and Teens, a young lady mentioned that billbords, magazines and advertisements have effected her especially after starting to shop at Abercrombie. When asked about whether the advertisements/window displays inticed her to shop there, she non-chalantly admitted yes, the cute skirts. Another teen said that the media has a relatively high influence on teens. She continues to say that there is definitley some appeal in being different, out there and funky. Music she says, is a subtle but prominant source of media that is very persuasive to her and her fellow classmates. So i pose this questions to the class, does the media and/or celebrities influence you? If so, at what age do do believe we should educate young children such as, our daughters, sons, sisters, brothers and cousins about media literacy and to critically analyze the images that are all around them?

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