Technological Advances: Why we need media literacy.

The book, Media Literacy, on page 22 defines media literacy as, “a set of perspectives that we can actively use to expose ourselves to the media to interpret the meaning of messages we encounter. We build our perspectives from knowledge structures. To build out knowledge structures, we need tools and raw material. These tools are our skills. The raw material is information from the media and from the real world. Active use means that we are aware of the messages and our consciously interacting with them.”

"Today's technologies represent a startling fusion of sight and sound that frequently make it difficult for us to discern illusion from reality, fact from fiction." Technological advances have changed the ways in which people, seek, receive, and perceive mass media. People are no longer getting information from just the radio, newspaper, and television. The internet has become a prominent source as well as cell phones and other digital gadgets.

These technological advances affect American students on a daily basis. They are the ones who constantly want the latest gadgets. In my opinion it is important that media literacy be taught to students before they involve themselves in the technological world of media messages. Preferably during their high school careers because their maturity and cognitive skills will have started to or fully evolved, and they should be taught media literacy before they become adults.

According to "Why Media Literacy Matters", “It is estimated that North American children spend twice as much time over the course of a year watching television as they do in school. A recent study found that U.S. children spend over four and a half hours a day using television, computers and video games. As media saturate our lives, it is vital that children learn to decode messages and images, to ask critical questions about who is creating them and for what purpose. Media literacy is fundamental in helping young people to become informed citizens who can actively and successfully communicate with society and the world.”

An article I read titled "Why Do U.S. Students Need Media Literacy?" states another reasonable argument as to why it is important for youth to learn media literacy. “As far as many American students are concerned, media is "just entertainment. "They know little about who controls the media, how media products are made, what effects the media may have on the public, and how media socialize us.”

High students are constantly using and exposed to technology. It is important for high school students to understand the technology they are exposed to especially if they are using newer technologies as their main media source. High school students need to learn and develop media literacy so that they are better prepared for college and the future. There is a relationship between the way the world is presented by the media and the way we as media consumers perceive that world. Crime is 10 times greater on television than in real life, but many Americans perceive their world to be as violent and threatening as the media construction.

To conclude, Media literacy is constantly changing the ways in which people think and view the world. Elizabeth Thoman writes, "Screenagers" — media-saturated kids — need to develop skills in order to recognize a culture that is shaped around the image.” Therefore, media literacy should be taught to students before they graduate high school, so that they can properly interpret mass media in the future and understand future technological advances.

In this video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T59DKKNheoU, George Lucas discusses the Importance of multimedia literacy.

Factors that Influence Media Effects

Many television viewers don’t realize there are factors that influence media effects on their lives. According to Wikipedia, “a media influence or media effect refers to the theories about the ways the mass media affect how their audiences think and behave.”

I decided to an exercise to see how these factors influence the effects media has on me. Recently I viewed the movie Flight 93. This move has several emotional and violent aspects to it. I realized throughout the movie I felt tense. Once the movie was over I felt empathy towards the victims and anger and aggression towards the Arabs who hijacked the plane. However, the next day all the emotions I had felt went away. Factors that influenced me to feel aggression and racism were my knowledge structure, my lifestyle, state of mind, sociological factors, Content of the message and motivations.

I believed that everything I viewed in the movie was realistic. My lifestyle or lack of real-life experiences, lead me to be more affected by the movie. My state of mind was thinking back to the tragic events of 9-11. I was feeling angry and empathy for the victims and their families before I even started the movie. I feel that sociological factors and motivations had an influence on my feelings of this movie because I was always taught to stand up for myself and to help others in need. While viewing the movie I just wanted to be on the plane and help those who were in need. I feel that the factor of motivation had an effect because I viewed this movie wanting to know what events took place on the plane. Lastly, the content of the movie was violent throughout the duration of the movie which was about two hours.

There were factors that removed me from feelings of aggression and anger. My cognitive ability to understand that it was just a movie I was watching and that I was not personally experiencing the dramatic event. I know my own personal locus or how media affects me. Therefore I was able to identify that the emotions I felt were caused by the movie and not caused by real-life events. My developmental maturities brought me back to reality.

Some may believe that media has no effect on a person behaving violent, but several people do. The factors that provoke an emotion may vary from different types of media. I have learned through my studies and continuance exposure to the media that it is important to know about these factors, what they mean, and to understand how media affects you.

In the future, I’d like to gain more real-life experiences so I don’t get caught up in the media and believe everything I view is realistic or true. I’d also like to use the media more as an information source rather than for entertainment. I’d like to change the ways in which I use and view media and decrease the amount of time I view media.

Two and a Half Men Has More Than Two and a Half Million Viewers

Ratings seem to be everything in the television business. Networks are constantly competing with other networks and moving television show times and days around just to get the best possible ratings. I’d say the most competitive time of day is primetime. I decided to do some research on my own and see how one of my favorite shows rates on the scale.

The Hit comedy Two and a Half Men staring Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, and Angus T. Jones airs Monday nights at 9:00 on CBS. This is one of my favorite shows to watch because it is humorous and there is nothing else on television that I care to watch on Monday nights.

Some shows that Two and a Half Men competes with at the nine O’clock hour are, ABC's Dancing With the Stars, FOX's 24 or now New Amsterdam, NBC’s Deal or No Deal, and the CW’s Gossip Girl which has now been switched to One Tree Hill.

The chart below is from the week of 3/24/08-3/30/08. The information is according to the Nielsen Media Research, Inc. and shows the top 20 network prime time series.

Top 20 Network Primetime Series: Total Households

Rank

Program Name

Net

Day

Time

Household

Viewers

Rating/Share

Audience

1

AMERICAN IDOL-WEDNESDAY

FOX

Wed

9:00 PM

15.2/24.0

17,185,000

25,742,000

2

AMERICAN IDOL-TUESDAY

FOX

Tue

8:00 PM

14.0/21.0

15,767,000

24,758,000

3

DANCING WITH THE STARS

ABC

Mon

8:00 PM

13.0/20.0

14,651,000

20,515,000

4

DANCING W/STARS RESULTS

ABC

Tue

9:00 PM

11.0/17.0

12,370,000

17,487,000

5

CSI: MIAMI

CBS

Mon

10:00 PM

10.3/17.0

11,587,000

16,065,000

6

CBS NCAA POST GUN SU 2(S)

CBS

Sun

7:17 PM

8.9/16.0

10,011,000

14,359,000

7

60 MINUTES

CBS

Sun

7:23 PM

8.7/14.0

9,768,000

13,359,000

8

TWO AND A HALF MEN

CBS

Mon

9:00 PM

8.6/13.0

9,723,000

14,235,000

9

APPRENTICE 7

NBC

Thu

9:00 PM

7.7/13.0

8,662,000

12,132,000

10

EXTREME MAKEOVER:HOME ED.

ABC

Sun

8:00 PM

7.5/12.0

8,467,000

12,964,000

11

DATELINE FRI

NBC

Fri

9:00 PM

7.1/12.0

7,982,000

10,628,000

11

DEAL OR NO DEAL 3/27(S)

NBC

Thu

8:00 PM

7.1/12.0

8,037,000

11,397,000

13

OPRAH'S BIG GIVE

ABC

Sun

9:01 PM

7.0/11.0

7,946,000

11,362,000

14

DANCING W/STARS RECAP(S)

ABC

Tue

8:00 PM

6.8/11.0

7,653,000

10,504,000

15

PRIMETIME:WHAT WOULD U DO

ABC

Tue

10:02 PM

6.7/11.0

7,583,000

9,916,000

16

MOMENT OF TRUTH

FOX

Wed

8:00 PM

6.6/11.0

7,421,000

10,051,000

17

CBS NCAA BSKBL CHMP SA-2(S)

CBS

Sat

9:00 PM

6.5/12.0

7,361,000

10,417,000

18

COLD CASE

CBS

Sun

9:24 PM

6.3/10.0

7,096,000

9,804,000

18

HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER

CBS

Mon

8:30 PM

6.3/10.0

7,127,000

10,667,000

20

DEAL OR NO DEAL-MON

NBC

Mon

9:00 PM

6.2/9.0

6,972,000

10,140,00

As you can see, Two and Half Men had the highest ratings and most viewers for its time slot this week. However what would happen to the show’s ratings if FOX moved American Idol’s day and time to Mondays at nine O’clock?

I believe that the show’s ratings would decline. American Idol has almost two times the rating share and audience than Two and Half Men. The amount of American Idol viewers is also almost two times the amount of Two and Half Men viewers. People would more likely want to view the performances and results of American Idol than watch a comedic episode of Two and Half Men. Personally, I would choose to watch Two and Half Men over American Idol, but I don’t believe I speak for the majority. There is also the idea of reality vs. fiction. I think American people feel as if they need to stay “caught up” or informed about reality more than a fictional story line. There is also the watercooler effect that plays an impact on what people are viewing. People are more likely to discuss what Simon Cowell said to a contestant or who got voted off on American Idol than what happened in a half hour episode of Two and Half Men.

I’m glad to see that the ratings show my favorite television show is doing well. However, these ratings are sure to change and differ from week to week especially this month because a lot of shows will be airing new episodes again since the writers strike.