Digital and Media Literacy

                There was once a time that media literacy revolved primarily around newsprint and books. Over the course of decades, it has gone to radio, T.V., and the internet, the latter being the toughest to teach about with the rise of a new skill known as digital literacy. The rise of new media platforms calls for teachers to familiarize themselves with the products to ensure that their students may be able to understand them.

The digital literacy training I received is much less than what my youngest brother is receiving. When I was in 2^nd grade, it would be a once in the week occurrence that my class would go to the computer lab. When my little brother was in 2^nd grade, he was issued an iPad by the school to use and take home with him. We are only separated in age by 11 years, but in our modern times, it is the speed in which technology is developed and distributed that caused for this astronomical jump in digital literacy that has taken place in the last decade. It is well worth mentioning that my little brother goes to public school in a 2A school district.

Our public schools are doing a decent job in educating people on digital literacy, but to my surprise, our local libraries are making one of the largest efforts amongst the multiple organizations that strive to help. Nearly 100% of public libraries offer wi-fi access and no-fee access to public computers. In many cases, library staff will help patrons use the computers with everything from creating a resume to simply getting a social media account. Libraries have taken up the weight of both media and digital literacy issues by providing their communities with a means to educate themselves and seek education from others.

Digital literacy is a strange forefront that has culminated from the success of products created by companies that have soared through the market to become what many would consider essential everyday items. Your smartphone, your laptop, and even your game system can feel like a necessity, with every single one of these products were developed from a non-government company in the free market. The correlation between the capitalistic market and digital literacy is absolute: it takes a monetary incentive for technology to advance and these companies want to ensure that their product is the best seller compared to the companies that they are in competition with.

Two of the biggest issues today within media literacy are something that has been thoroughly spoken about in the Media Law and Ethics course: Fabrication and Misinformation. Throughout the course of print history, there have been news stories that have been completely fabricated or those that were exaggerated to extreme extents in a process known as yellow journalism.

One of the best ways that consumers can rely on what they read is by fact-checking the data through a multitude of sources. Media literacy has come down to this because of the age of the internet. While this may seem bad, it is worth mentioning that the multitude of online sources could have you searching for information for hours, there are so many different sites that you can fact check the data you are questioning.

Sites like Snopes offers insight on whether or not a news story is fabricated or if there is a rumor spread that is full of misinformation. It is even displayed on multiple pages within their site that “Misinformation is a real threat. Snopes.com needs your help.”

It has really come down to the consumers to educate themselves on media literacy. With the scope of sites and articles out there, a consumer must again fact-check everything that they read. Scholarly sources may have to become more of the regular as the number of people who are steadily not believing journalists grows. Unfortunately, the American public is slowly going down a path where regular citizens are not listening to information from scientists and doctors but trying to treat ailments with essential oils and other “secondary medicine”.

People who believe that vaccines cause autism would have to thank British surgeon Andrew Wakefield for his falsified report back in 1997 in the Lancet medical journal. His article was not peer-reviewed and was discredited. Wakefield also lost his license, but people have taken his report seriously. There is a rising multitude of parents known as “anti-vaxers” that have decided that they will not vaccinate their children due to the risk of autism and other health problems they believe might occur from vaccines.

This is where media and digital literacy comes in. You have to know that sites like The Onion are satirical and not to be taken seriously. That maybe everything Alex Jones says is to not be taken as God’s word. That by knowing how to navigate websites that you can see whether or not an article has academic sources and if those sources were peer-reviewed. You have unlimited resources at your disposal today that can help turn the tide to better your media literacy and fight against misinformation. By using your local library or speaking to other digital consumers, you can grow in your digital literacy and help others grow as well.