Our Society's Future: Why We Need Media Literacy

Today’s American high school students often appear to know a great deal about media devices available to them. A problem presented with this situation is that these students are not properly educated about media literacy. Without proper education concerning how to best interpret media messages, American youth are not fully literate about their surrounding culture.

In the U.S. Census Bureau’s Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2007, it states that this year adults and teens will spend nearly five months watching television, surfing the Internet, reading daily newspapers and listening to their MP3 devices.

Now, I thought that such a high level of media dependency would result in high school students having thorough knowledge of our political and social culture. Unfortunately, according to the Center for Media Literacy (CML), “young people use the media primarily for entertainment and recreation, not for information and education.”

It is unsettling that today’s high school students hold more knowledge about popular culture than the 2008 political campaign. These students “know little about who controls the media, how media products are made, what effects the media may have on the public, and how media socialize us.” (EdNews.org)

However, on CML’s website I discovered the article, “A Plea for Media Literacy in our Nation’s Schools.” Author, David Shaw, states “the very fact that young people spend so much time with the media that have the potential to inform and educate gives our schools an enormous opportunity (and obligation) to teach new and increasingly valuable skills.”

The United States is the most media-consumed country in the world. This fact posed the question of why media literacy education isn’t incorporated into U.S. school systems like it is in many Eastern countries. I found my answer in an article, “Why Do U.S. Students Need Media Literacy?” on EdNews.org. Author, Naomi Rockler-Gladen, simply states “that Americans generally don’t see the media as an important influence on our lives. With budget crises… many educators see media literacy as a waste of resources.”

I learned of a few valid reasons why America’s educational systems need to stress the importance of media literacy programs for high school students.

One reason is explained in a quote that I found in David Shaw’s article that states: “…Unless we teach our children how to read about, watch, interpret, understand and analyze the day’s events, we risk raising a generation of civic illiterates.” This quote really emphasizes the need for media literacy education in American schools. If students are not properly educated about media message interpretation, they may be vulnerable to misleading advertising and faulty ideas.

A second reason is media literacy courses can be fun and educational at the same time. When high school educators teach literature or other subjects students might find boring, they should somehow incorporate media analysis into the course. Since students spend so much time involved with media sources, this should be an enjoyable task for them.

Finally, I agreed with Gladen’s point of view. She states, “media literacy courses can help develop basic skills” in our youth. Our educators can teach young children to read using the World Wide Web, and through that they learn to use the Internet for educational purposes. Additionally, media literacy may be taught in high school by assigning students to read scholarly on-line articles in order to complete class projects.

While only a few schools in the United States have begun teaching students about media literacy, this is certainly a mission worth pursuing. Educating students on how to evaluate media messages will benefit our society and our future.

Avoiding the Danger Zone of Media Effects

In today’s world of cinematography, violent movies appear to be the latest rage. Some people may believe that these movies, such as “Saving Private Ryan”, are the reason for parts of our society’s vicious behavior. Others may choose to believe that people viewing these violent films do indeed have the power to ignore brutal actions shown and refuse to let them influence their life decisions.

I completed a study in W. James Potter’s text, Media Literacy. In this exercise, I learned how media effects (a violent movie) would influence the probability of the effect actually happening. To analyze this, I had to take into consideration Potter’s list of 13 factors.

I began by selecting a factor that best described how I could commit aggressive behaviors simply by watching “Saving Private Ryan.” The sociological factor concludes that “people who have been socialized with consistent norms for a long period of time will have a relatively weighty risk set point.” This means that if I have grown up with a poor background, watching the fierce actions that take place in “Saving Private Ryan” will likely cause me to enter into an aggressive state of behavior.

Now, I have not been raised with a tough background of any kind, but I noticed that after watching the movie I became very irritated about the whole idea of World War II. Throughout the movie, I wanted bad things to happen to the Germans when they killed any of the American soldiers.

A factor special to a type of effect that I used to see how I could be affected by the violence in this film was called “states.” This means that if I am in a current state of frustration and I view “Saving Private Ryan”, or any violent movie, I am apt to commit an act of aggression. When I last watched this film, I do not think I was angry prior to viewing it. Had I been upset before wathing this horrifying movie, I probably would have been more irritated than I was after watching the movie in a normal state of mind.

To my defense, there are factors stating that I may not act aggressively after watching a violent movie. The Personal locus factor determines a person’s media exposure habits. I would say that I have a strong personal locus because I am aware of the effects process of violent films. When watching “Saving Private Ryan”, there were many effects that I did not want to include in my personal behavior and so I made risk set points for the effects that were far from the manifestation point.

At the conclusion of this study, I realized that I am hardly influenced by the brutal actions in “Saving Private Ryan” or violent films in general. After reading the other 10 factors, I am mostly convinced that my chances of behaving violently are not great, especially after I applied them to my maturity, skills, knowledge structures, sociological factors, and lifestyle.

Watch out American Idol!

Dancing with the Stars certainly knows how to start ABC network’s week off on the right foot. On Monday evenings, ABC's ratings are in excellent standing and fall only a bit for their revealing of results on Tuesday night. Simon Cowell should watch out because the Dancing Stars are not far behind.
On Monday March 24 at 8 p.m., the show had 20.5 million viewers. At 9 p.m. on Tuesday March 25, 17.5 million viewers tuned in to watch the results of the previous nights competition.

Other network's Monday primetime shows included CSI: Miami bringing in 16.1 million viewers for CBS at 10 p.m. and NBC's Deal or No Deal pulling 10.1 million viewers at 9:00. The only competitor primetime show on Tuesday is Fox’s American Idol which attracted 24.8 million viewers one hour prior to Dancing with the Stars’ airing at 9:00 p.m.

At the conclusion of the week of March 31, Monday night’s “Dancing with the Stars” came in first overall for its timeslot. The show had a 12.6 rating per 19 shares. CBS came in second with a rating of 5.9/9 for “The Big Bang Theory” and another 5.9/9 for “How I Met Your Mother.” Fox network’s “House” re-run gathered a 4.8/7 rating putting them in third. ABC finished the night with an overall rating of 9.5 per 15 shares.

For Tuesday night, ABC came in second behind FOX with a rating of 7.2 per 11 shares. However, “Dancing with the Stars” had another victorious rating of 10.9 per 17 shares for the 8:00 hour. FOX finished second for “Hell’s Kitchen” with a rating of 7.5/11 and the second half of “Biggest Loser” with 5.8/9. “Big Brother: “Till Death Do You Part” collected a rating of 4.1/6 for NBC network.

If ABC network was to move “Dancing with the Stars” to Sunday evenings, the show would face stiff competition. CBS has been holding the number one spot for Sunday evenings, but this could be partially due to the “March Madness” competitions. On Sunday March 30, CBS had a rating of 6.7 per 11 shares. “60 Minutes” received an outstanding rating of 9.9/17. ABC airs “Extreme Makeover Edition” at 8 p.m. on Sundays and last week received a rating of 7.5/12 shares.

“Dancing with the Stars” is a strong show and has proven so through its outstanding numbers in viewership and ratings. If it were moved to Sunday evenings, at a different hour than “60 Minutes” and “Extreme Makeover”, the show should not experience extreme changes. “Dancing with the Stars” is a unique program that appeals to all ages of the public.