Media reflects all of us
Is there more too it?
Becoming Media Literate
Many people mistake media for news and different texts, although these are examples of media it goes much further than that. Media is simply a source of information whether it be sound, text, images, and video. This includes many forms of entertainment like music, books, news (both paper and on television), TV, games, etc. Media surrounds us and envelopes our lifestyle today. Whether this I beneficial or detrimental to our well-being is up for debate. However, if you are not media literate, nothing good will come of it at all. Being media literate is being able to use different types of media to communicate your thoughts and ideas to other people. It is essential for you to be able to communicate through different mediums in order to get your point across, and different mediums are appropriate for different situations. When companies make adds they don’t make novels that take hours to read, they create 10 second commercials, or images on websites to advertise because it is a more effective way you present their idea without needing people to voluntarily participate in the add. This same concept applies to us students. Communicating your thoughts on a novel you recently read would be difficult and less informative through a song, that is why it is necessary for us to be able to use all these different media tools. Being media literate helps you gain knowledge and share your own, it allows you to separate information and facts from fluff and exaggerations, and really increases the rate at which you learn.
Forms of Media
What it's about
How to use it
Glad I'm not one of "those" people
To go a full 24 hours without social media is a nightmare for most teenagers my age, but not for me. I naturally went the required time without even thinking of the task at hand. I have never found a lot of entertainment looking at other people’s lives, or sharing my pointless day to day activities with the rest of the world. I would rather focus on things that hold more value than meaningless posts. Instead of getting on Facebook or Instagram I researched some music theory, and used that new information to help me when I was writing a few melodies on a keyboard. What could I have put the information I got off of Instagram to use for? Nothing. Social media is more often than not a way to pass time. I just naturally choose to spend my time more wisely and on activities that more stimulating. It’s really disappointing that some teenagers just don’t have anything to do with their time. I know of countless people that are glued to their phones from the minute they get home from school, and it’s disappointing, and it’s getting worse. With the new introduction of Snapchat to the social media family people are wasting their time more efficiently than ever. People need to find passion in more things, develop new skills, and enjoy their own lives, not others’.