New Age of Technology: Why We Need Media Literacy.

Media literacy is expanded information and communication skill that is responsive to the changing nature of information in our society. It addresses the skills adults and students need to be taught in school, the competencies people must have as we use information in our homes, and the abilities workers must have as we move throughout the twenty-first century and the challenges of a global economy. Most media literacy organizations use this definition of media literacy: The ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and communicate information in a variety of formats. It includes the ability to both read and understand and write. It moves from merely recognizing and comprehending information to the higher order critical thinking skills understood in questioning, analyzing and evaluating that information.

Today, we are in an age right now where most Students and Adults get their information from television and pictures, instead of books and print. Today, we are not only in an age of computers and forms of telecommunications, but are subjected to virtual reality as well. In a lot of today’s movies and television shows, we are highly affected by the sound and special effects put in to these movies and shows. Things like people coming back from the dead, color with black and white, etc. These are seen in a lot of movies and shows out there today. Examples like the horror movie series Friday the 13th, even in old movies like The Wizard Of Oz where it goes from black and white to color.

The problem is that these special effects are not only put in to entertainment media, but news broadcasts as well. A reporter in a news broadcast can magically be transported by computer to look as if she is standing right in front of the White House, which is usually a close up shot that looks as if he or she is as tall as the building. This demonstrates that the reporter has power and authority to report the story. Trends like these need to be questioned by the viewers. The need to question the authenticity and accuracy of all the information. Many people believe that a lot of what they see on the news must be true because it’s the news. That’s not always true, sometimes especially when broadcasting about the war in Iraq they want people to believe that everything is negative over there, but in fact some of the soldiers serving over there are helping the Iraqi’s to rebuild.

A person who is media literate is able to create, produce, and communicate information in all forms. An example of this would be our digital cameras. We can take pictures off them and put them right on to our computers or onto disc. Americans in the workplace and in their daily lives will require the information and communication skills essential to live and work with many formats. Rather than just typing print from page to screen, they will work with still and moving images, graphics and text. If we can distinguish what is real and not real, and be diverse by reading not only on the internet, but by picking up and reading a book or newspaper.

Violence and Media Factors

Often, the media is a great source of information. Sometimes, this information can influence people negatively or positively. In today’s society, different types of media can create these effects on different types of people depending on certain factors. There are seven different set point factors which can influence these media effects, and when watching a violent film, I determined which of these factors influenced me.

One of these factors is developmental maturities. Because of differences in cognitive development, children learn things from the media at different ages. Children who are younger are not able to follow everything going on when watching TV, or dramatic plots; they sometimes construct false images of the world. Since I am an adult, I am not scared of certain sound effects; I know what is real and fake, and how the media portrays certain things for effect.

The degree of identification factor says, a person pays more attention to the character they identify with. People identify with characters who have similarities to them but who also have qualities that they would like to possess but do not. I usually don’t chose violent films to watch so most of the characters that I relate to are the “good” characters. The characters who try not to create conflict, or use violence. The probability of this media effect occurring would increase if you related more to violent characters. According to the states factor, the emotion a person is feeling at the time of viewing can potentially increase the media effect. So in order for this film to have a higher potential of creating aggression in myself I need to view it after having a bad day or feeling frustration.

I can see several factors that could make me behave aggressively, but there are many factors that would decrease my chances of this media effect occurring. Since the socialization factor states that, a set point is hard to move when a person has been exposed consistently to anti-aggression norms all their life. I grew up in a small town where there is not a lot of violence that takes place; my college choice was based on that sole reason. I was raised in a religious environment where I would attend church with my family and sit down to have a family dinner no matter how crazy our schedules were. My chances of acting aggressively after this film are very small.

Playing a college sport, I am part of a team so I am very social and active. The lifestyle factor refers to how active and social a person is. So these factors reduce my chances of acting violent because of my low exposure to media. With thirteen different factors which influence media effects, I think that after viewing a violent film the likely for aggressive behavior to occur would be very low. Due to my lifestyle, low exposure to violence, and how I was brought up, I believe that the chance of this media effect occurring is very slim.

and the winner is....American Idol!

One of my all time favorite prime time television shows is American Idol. I am a huge fan every season, whether it’s during the results show on Wednesday nights, or when they perform on Tuesday nights. So I automatically thought that if it was one of my all time favorite shows, and the performers get so many votes, it must be another favorite show to other viewers.

According to USA Today, during the week of February 12^th through the 18^th, American Idol placed first and second with 31.2 million voters, and 28.9 million voters. These viewers were between the ages of 18 and 49 years of age. In the category of viewers 50 years and older, CSI and CSI Miami placed first and second with 11.7 and 11.6 million viewers. For the week of March 24^th through March 30^th, Fox’s American Idol placed first and second again. This time the Wednesday night show at 9 PM had a rating of 15.2 with a share of 24. There was an audience of 17,185,000, and 25,742,000 viewers. The Tuesday night performance show at 8 PM had a 14.0 rating with a share of 21. The audience was 15,767,000 and there were 24,758,000 viewers.

I don’t think the ratings would change that much if you moved American Idol to a different night or time. The only other competition that American Idol would have would be if they changed it to Monday night at 8PM or Tuesday night at 9, because Dancing With the Stars on ABC came in third and fourth place with the Monday night show having a rating of 13 and a share of 20.0 There was an audience of over 14 million, and over 20 million viewers. The results show has a rating of 11 and a share of 17. There was an audience of over 12 million and almost 17.5 million viewers.

So as you can see these shows are close, but American Idol still comes out on top. I think that since most of the viewers of American Idol are between the ages of 18 and 49, the only thing that could change the ratings would be if they moved the time earlier, like at 7 PM. People in this age bracket are either college students, parents, or work a full time job so it would be more difficult for them to catch the show at a different time. I think this is exactly what Fox was thinking when scheduling the show. I know that since the show is at 8 and 9 PM it gives me time to finish up my day and get everything done so that I can just relax and watch the show.