ARTICLES: The Benefits of Media Literacy

The Benefits of Media Literacy

By

Chido Onumah

 

Thanks to advances in media technology, children and youth are inundated daily with media messages that affect them in different ways. From our local stations that are hooked up permanently to Western channels, to specialty channels that are available with the press of a button, to thousands of pirated CDs and DVDs on sale along the streets of our major cities, children and youth now have to contend with an unhealthy dose of sex, drug, alcohol, violence, and tragedy.

 

What do young people make of all this and how should they respond? Advocates of media literacy contend that for children and youth to be able to respond positively, they need a clear understanding of media and its influence. In a sentence, they have to be media literate!

 

If we consider the power of the ever-expanding social networking sites on the Internet like Facebook and MySpace, it becomes clearer that critical understanding of the media is one of the greatest cultural challenges of the 21^st Century.

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