Media Literacy

Literacy gives us minorities the ability to read and write. Today, we get most our information through
an interwoven system of media technologies. The ability to read many types of media has become an
essential skill in the 21st Century. Media literacy is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create
media. I came up with this topic because Media literate youth and adults all over America to better
understand the complex messages we receive from television, radio, Internet, newspapers,
magazines, books, billboards, video games, music, and all other forms of media.Media can present
content that seems and is more or less real, however, it is our duty as the viewers to be able to
distinguish, and differentiate between "reflections of reality, and constructions of reality". The prime
targets of the media are young people because they so unwittingly believe everything the media tells
them, from "how to talk, how to dress, and how to relate to others". Media literacy skills are included
in the educational standards of every state in language arts, social studies, health, science, and other
subjects.

My potential strength is giving my audience various types of important effects of global media literacy
such as education ,health related issues, drugs, alcohol, tobacco, body image, obesity, sex
distractions , lack of knowledge and all types of sports that does and does not effects our
globalization. I researched and found out many researchers have discovered that media literacy is an
effective and engaging way to apply critical thinking skills to a wide range of issues. My main
Importance I want my audience to know about media literacy, according to Edward Donnerstein who
is a major research interests in mass-media violence, as well as mass media policy. He has published
over 240 scientific articles in these general areas and serves on the editorial boards of a number of
academic journals in both psychology and communication.

Donnerstein States that in his book " Media literacy skills can help youth and adults by developing
critical thinking skills, Understanding how media messages shape our culture and society ,recognize,
bias, spin ,misinformation, lies and also evaluate media messages based on our own experiences,
skills, beliefs, and values. " I learned from Donnerstein that this project with media literacy fit within
the existing globalization because media literacy is a delicate issue that has some good and bad
effects on everyone in today’s society. For example, Communication has become a major tool to
connect if we want to travel to Africa or learn about Australia information is at our fingertips .We can
text someone instantly and get a response back from Russia immediately. We can call someone over
Skype in India and talk for free on our computer for as long as we want. Not to mention Facebook and
Twitter which have become the most popular social networking tools on the world.

My study according to Cole VT 2006, an article on television and obesity talks about how the media
has strong influence over public thought because of the universal demand of the media, because of
the accessibility of media it becomes more influential to those who watch it and the viewers who
believe the ideas and stereotypes portrayed through the media; nevertheless, they become the
individuals who become influenced by the media. The media demonstrates the ability to create and
influence those who watch television; however, one particular group that the media has targeted is
children. Television and internet has allowed for the expansion of knowledge to expand globally, but
also has the ability to corrupt the mind of the youth. Cole gives us audience a quote stating"The
expansion of knowledge is spreading and so is the waist size of the American youth".

It has been established that television, internet and social medial allows for children to become
educated through these conventional outlets; however children should be limited to a minimal amount
of television because there is correlation between excessive television, internet and an increase in
BMI, which has been linked towards the causes of obesity in children. Obesity effect children’s who
consume a significant am out of television such as erratic behavior, less active in physical activity,
deprivation of sleep, mood swings, Increase in laziness, and increase in weight again which consents
of obesity. According to Kong JP, in 2010 his Journal of Society for development in new net
environment in B&H. "children who watch up to three hours of television on average, watching up to
at least 40,000 TV commercial per year and developing a favorite television show or program that
retains their attention. Based on the fact these impacts can lead to a significant decline in health and
overall performance of children. If these bad habits remain continuance this could lead to an
unhealthy life and unhealthy habits, which can ultimately be fatal".

However, we parents need to set a good example, because they are role models for their child, and
the behavior that children have is usually a replica of the parents. Some parents allow for children to
be consumed by television, while they gallivant in their own activities instead of spending time with
their child. By allowing a child to consistently watch television instead of being active in a physical
activity can result in the child becoming lazy. It is important to encourage your child to do other
activities outside of watching television, so it’s good not to invest all your time on television and find
an outside source for entertainment. For instance, if a child asks to play with their mom or dad and
the mom tell their child I do not have time, go watch television. Ultimately, the child will begin to rely
on the television as there daily activity. It is imperative as a parent that you find quality time to spend
with your child and that quality time should be spent away from the television.

My Methodology of data I collected throughout a quantitative and qualitative research study is that I
gain from Elsevier Health Sciences that it is imperative to understand that childhood obesity is at all-
time high, and as the years increase so does the sizes of the American children. If children are going
to is watching a significant amount of television and internet daily there should be other alternatives
and activities provided in place of the television. For instance, for every amount of television or
technology being used will result in the same amount of time spent actively engaging in an activity
that does not require you to sit in front of the television or , or iPad, Xbox 360 and etc. Also, it is
recommended that a maximum of two hours should be spent watching these technologies.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (2001), it is recommended in order to help reduce
the amount of television and internet being consumed is to not watch television or use technologies
while eating meals, remove all televisions from blatant/obvious places in the houses, such as the
living room. There should be no television located in the children’s room because children will stay up
all night with their eyes fixated at the television or technologies. Also, it’s good to implement days
without television and to plan family activities that allow to children engage actively. By limiting the
amount of hours spent on television and internet can help reduce the risk of children becoming obese
and allow for them to find other activities that can be beneficial to their growth and allow for them to
live a healthy life. Children's greatest exposure to violence comes from television.

TV shows, movies edited for television, and video games expose young children to a level of violence
unimaginable just a few years ago. According to Salmon J, Campbell KJ, Crawford DA states in their
Journal of Society for development in new net environment in B&H that majority of teenagers and
children today know the underlying themes of the media, and know that it is all scripted even the
violence, however, the matter of fact is that teenagers can relate so much to the themes in the media
that they slowly begin to believe it. Once they get introduced to the characters, they gradually start to
consider them real and starts to partipate in bad behavior Cambell states in his journal that "our
community in today's society face many obstacles with our youth and the media that is destroying the
foundation of family's and juvenile delinquency.

For example, social learning theory, strain theory and control theory, just to name a few, are typically
postulated for being directly related our media juvenile delinquency. In dealing with all of these effects
and how they play a role with delinquency the question still remains as to whether or not higher crime
rates in juveniles are significantly increased when media plays a big factor". The media has the ability
to influence social constructed ideas and creating stratification amongst minorities and ethnic groups
allowing for the uses of the television and social media outlets to become addicting. As a result of this
addiction it enable individuals such as children to become or remain fixated on these primitive idea of
life. And because of this strong addiction towards being entertained it is important to stay tuned to the
media and the most up to date gossip or the newest television show.

However, According to Tracy Marie Scull who is The National Association for Media Literacy
Education’s Journal of Media Literacy Education talks about sex in her article she states,"During
adolescence, young people are exposed to information about sex from a myriad of sources including
mass media Adolescents frequently cite mass media as a primary source of information about sex
(Sutton et al. 2002). Somewhat surprisingly, the media far outrank parents or schools as a source of
information about birth control for 15-19-year-olds .In fact, young teens (ages 13-15) rank
entertainment media as their top source for information about sexuality and sexual health.

Unfortunately, while the media are communicating a plethora of sexual messages, many of those
messages would not be considered accurate or healthy. For example, while the amount of sexual
content on TV has nearly doubled since 1997 very few teen television shows mention any of
the responsibilities or risks (e.g., using contraception, pregnancy, STIs) associated with sex and
almost none of the shows with sexual content include precaution, prevention, or negative outcomes
as the primary theme".
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