It is true that a pen is mightier than a sword. Words and images communicate messages that have the power to influence us. To create media content is to exercise one’s power. The rise of social media platforms has led to a democratization of media creation. Our cultural zeitgeist has never seen as many creators of information. Cultural and political discourses have never heard as many voices stating their views at the same time. Just like the creators behind traditional media, the creators you see on social media have their personal biases and motivations. Even if the creators’ content seems objective and even if they themselves see their intentions as pure, they still communicate and create from a specific context and speak from their own point of view. Every video, text, and picture has a chance to influence you. Every photographer, writer, and speaker has a chance to influence you.
Media literacy is dead is a phrase that can be spotted all over the internet, especially as a response to content or a comment made by some social media user. Media literacy has never been as topical as it currently is. We have never consumed as much media on average in our daily lives as we do now. The easiest response to a complicated, or in many cases even a very simple, topic while doomscrolling is to stay numb. The way social media platforms have been designed is inherently tiring. There is a reason why the term doomscrolling includes the word doom. A tired mind does not want to think critically, check the sources, find other possible opinions, or create an opinion of its own. It is easiest to become a sponge to whatever opinion is presented, quite often even as an objective fact.
My theory is that the current decline of media literacy walks hand in hand with the rising culture of hate. People seem to purposefully misinterpret information to find a reason for hate. Anonymity allows people to say their innermost thoughts. However, it seems as if some of these thoughts did not even exist initially, they were created merely for the sake of hating. Everything is hated now. Whatever content is uploaded online, it will most likely receive a massive wave of hate comments. Due to the anonymity that it provides, the internet has been a somewhat hateful space since its creation. Yet, it has only been recently that purposeful misinterpretation has been utilized to this extent. What seems like poor media literacy might in many cases actually be twisted media literacy.
With my last blog post, I want to remind myself and all my fellow students to always ask questions. In university, we are taught how to approach academic texts critically. I want all of us to start doing the same with social media content. The same questions apply to both cases. Who created this? Where was it published? How does the author prove their claims? No piece of media is perfect, but some of them are at least reliable.
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