Media Literacy

Our book tells us that, ‘Media literacy begins with a factual foundation and becomes keener with an understanding of the dynamics that influence media messages. There are degrees of awareness, including abilities to understand and explain media behavior and effects and to identify significant media issues,’ (Vivian 17) but when really trying to understand media literacy, that alone is a little bit difficult to decipher. What the books really means is that media literacy is the level of knowledge one has about the things going on around them. To be media literate one can dissect the messages being sent out by mass media and reflect upon them. There are different levels of media awareness and some require higher literacy than others. The first level is the basic overall awareness of its existence. An example of someone being media literate is one of the co-creators of Apple, Steven Jobs. He obviously knows how to work all of the high-tech of the modern age and is active in the media scene trying to expand media awareness as well as his companys’ technology. The catch is that someone from our day and age like Steven Jobs that is media literate most likely won’t be so media literate anymore if he was put in a traveling device that sent him 20 years from now. Media literacy all depends on the present and how much you know about it.