Reflections on module 1 readings.
As I was going through the links, there were a few things that stood out to me. When reading the first sections of readings under “Media Literacy Defined,” and specifically the “Masterman Principles of Media Education” powerpoint, I guess I should not have been surprised, but I found that a lot of the class seemed to reflect a lot of the suggestions about how to encourage media education. Everything from working together on the syllabus (relating it to how Dr. Tollefson asked for our expectations for her and the class) to fostering peer interaction without competition, and instead try to create an environment where we work together to broaden each others’ views.
Media literacy, and with it, media education is definitely shaping up to be very important concepts for not only the class, but also to be applied into my personal daily life as well. As a tech enthusiast, I’m often on my phone browsing the web, where I come into so many advertisements, very opinionated arguments, and easily mindless entertainment. For me, it’s imperative that I’m able to challenge what is presented to me, so that I can form my own opinions, to look past the “cover” and get into the deeper meanings and suggestions behind what is being projected at me, or what isn’t and is missing. (Chris Worsnop, 1994)
As a just-barely-making-the-cut youth, and as a sister to siblings who are even more youthful than I, media conglomerates often assume that we are easy targets, consumers of the mindless, and crude humor filled entertainment. That we will take blatant racist, sexist, and homophobic messages as little more than humor. While there’s no doubt that plenty of teens and children specifically are always seeking entertainment, as our textbook explains, reporters, parents, and politicians all seem to think that media is the problem, when its simply a medium for ideas to be presented, whether true or not. (Sternheimer, 2013) The real problem lies in the lack of media literacy, as children shift into a more technology consuming era, parents are at a loss on how to teach their children media literacy. As our textbook phrases it, “parents feel helpless to control what music their kids listen to….movies they see….or…. websites they visit.” (Sternheimer, 2013)
