what is media literacy?

Media literacy is an understanding of the role that mass media plays in our lives. By having an understanding of media literacy one can bettter comprehend the massive amounts of messages that are being sent by the media. Today, people are constantly being exposed to mass media messages. People are exposed to both intentional and passive media activity, with intentional media activity taking up 30% of a persons waking hours and passive taking up 39%. Even if you were to choose not to use your computer, television, or cell phone, it would still be almost impossible to escape the media. Just driving on the highway or walking down the street, you would be exposed to mesages from the media such as signs and billboards. Although these would probably go unnoticed, they do have an influence on you.
It is important for people to have an understnding of media literacy in order to asses the messges they are recieving. Were are living in an age where mass media is involved in almost all aspects of our lives. We rely on the media for information, entertainment, and persuasion. We rely on the news to send us important updates on what is going on in the world and in our communities. If not for the news we would only be able to find out important information by word of mouth. The media also delivers us information that is not as important, such as informtion about products delivered to us via television commercial.
The mass media we have access to has also made it much easier and more convenient for people to access entertainment. To watch a sporting event before the invention of television you would have to actually attend the game, but now, all you have to do is turn on the television.
It is important to have a strong understanding of media literacy due to the powerful role persuasion plays in mass media. All sorts of media, such as radio, television, music and even books can be uses to persuade people into believing in or supporting a specific person, product, or idea. Because we live in a democracy during elections we are bombarded by messages from the media, trying to convince us to vote for a certain candidate. We are also exposed to advertisements, which are using persuasion to sell a product. By having a strong media literacy we can asses these messages that are being sent to us and make an informed decision on who we will vote for, or what products we will buy. Thankfully, most people have enough media literacy to understand they cannot believe everything that the mass media messages tell them. Better understanding of media literacy is important to make decisions on what information to disregard.