What is Media Literacy

Media literacy can be defined as what a person can understand from the media. Not just its basic meaning, but the deeper more keen understanding underneath the eloquent diction used to communicate it. When a person has a high media literacy they have the ability to decipher how the information will effect them on an individual level and also on a large collect scale. Media literacy in a more direct definition is a persons “competence or knowledge about the mass media” (Vivian, 6).

Media is used in every aspect of life, sometimes consciously and others subconsciously. In a study done by scholars at Ball State University, it was determined that people are exposed to mass media for about 68.8 percent of their waking hours. Our nation is awash with such a variety of complex forms of media that it is difficult to determine whether or not your media literacy is high. People are able to increase their knowledge through news channels and other popular outlets for media, but the true test of knowledge is whether or not they can decipher the information they are being given in order to better their own personal lives.

Another way to describe media literacy is media awareness. The four fundamental ideas needed to estimate ones media literacy are “the ability to see the difference between a one-on-one message and a mass message, message versus messenger, motivation awareness, and media limitations” (Vivian, 7). Personally, I do not believe that one person can be completely literate in media because it is such a divisive outlet that you can not understand how to interpret the information you are constantly being streamed. Media literacy is a complex notion that one can understand the media in a deeper way that can communicate information that may or may not effect your lives.