Media Literacy

Media literacy is the understanding of the media of mass communication and its importance in our lives as humans. As the use of media in todays world grows, so does our understanding and acceptance to more and new media. Also by just being user of media we all get more knowledge about the media and its affects in the world we live in.

Majority of media related products such as blogs, rely on its customers or advertisers for funding. Tv shows, movies, and video games are all based off of what the people buy, watch, or pay to see. Or with the advertisements they allow certain companies to buy space or air time to advertise their products. The more people that they can get to support them the better the media will be able to perform and create new and better media.

Although we use media every single day, we don't really think about using it or what we are doing. A simple task like texting a friend or playing video games online is amazing. Back in the 1930's president Roosevelt used the radio for the first time to get his name known to a bigger audience. The use of the radio made a huge impact on the world of politics for the many years after, because today politicians now use television ads to get their names known. With out the radio or printing presses the mass communication technology that we have today would not exist.

With its uncountable positive affects there are some cons to media some say. On television today news shows are getting more flexible with what they are allowed to show. Dead bodies, gun fights, and other horrible acts of violence are being played over millions of TV's. Not only do TV programs show acts of violence but many films do aswell. This is a bad thing because a lot of children watch TV and films more than they do anything. It can cause them to believe in violence and doing bad things. Another con to new media is the loss of person to person interaction. Before cell phones people would go and knock on doors to see if people are home, but now they can call from anywhere and see if they are home. Many people prefer to text than talk to people in person.

The combination and integration of all of these is what makes up media literacy. The more time we have to understand the media the more we will learn and change the society we live in.