Screens surround us, and our children.

First of all there is the big screen, with its larger than life images, with its tinsel moorings, colors and the celebrities and lilting music and  songs.

Then there is the small screen in our living rooms which we once denounced as the idiot box and then revere  and grudge as the “third parent.”

And now of course there is  the ubiquitous mini screen which pops up every other minute  on to  us from  our desktops,  our laptops our hand-helds and  even more menacingly, and obsessively from our  mobile phones. The phone never stops ringing and phones are not  mere phones anymore.

The modern day Abhimayu is not caught in a chakaravyuh but in tyrannical web of interconnected rectangles.

The question to parents, teachers, our policy makers and us is, do we leave our children to fend for themselves and be guided only by their peer groups? Or do we send them into the battle fully prepared to face this war for the minds and eye balls, as critical thinkers and proactive analyzers?

We cannot afford to ignore media. Children learn more from popular culture and peer interactions than from their class rooms and parental guidance.

I believe that media should be questioned at all  points of time.  Our mantra to every child should be when faced with media, ask questions, all kinds of questions. Media like technology can be  a  good servant  but a bad master.

 

What Indeed is Media Literacy?

 

When I say media, I include books, newspapers, magazines, radio, television, movies, videos, billboards (hoardings and wall writings), recorded music, video games, and everything available via the Internet.

When I say media literacy I do not mean protection from the so called “bad” media content but media literacy as  empowerment, stressing critical thinking,  production skills and a certain sense of choice, master and ownership.

I particularly like this definition  of  media literacy by the American schools association:

“ The purpose of media literacy education is

to help students develop the habits of inquiry and

skills of expression they need to be

critical thinkers,

effective communicators and

active citizens in today’s world.”

 

 Being media literate also entails using media wisely and effectively, including being able to judge the credibility of infor­mation from different sources. In the same way that traditional lit­eracy includes writing as well as reading skills, media literacy also emphasizes producing effective communication through a variety of different media forms.

Media literacy is particularly powerful in encouraging participatory citizenship and the appreciation of multiple perspectives. It develops informed, reflective and engaged citizens essential for a democratic society

 

Media Literacy is Asking Questions?

Media literacy is asking questions: questions on authorship, purpose, economics, questions on technique and content, about context and credibility and about audience and impact.

Your success is in making a every child an intelligent and discerning viewer, an active and alert media consumer

Please tell your children it’s use­ful to ask some, or all, of the following key questions:

About Authorship, Purpose and Economics  of a particular production

• Who made this?

• Who paid for it?

• Who was this made for (and how do you know)?

 

About Techniques and Content

• What messages are conveyed? What techniques are used

to communicate each message, and why?

• What ideas, values, information, and/or points of view

are overt? Implied?

• What is left out of this message that might be important to know?

Again, how do you know?

 

About the Context and Credibility

• When was this made? Where or how was it shared with

the public?

• Is this fact, opinion, or something else?

• How credible is this? What are the sources of information, ideas, or assertions?

Once again how do you know?

About the Audience and Impact

• How might different people interpret this differently?

• Who  might benefit from this? Who might be harmed by it?

• What is my interpretation of this, and what do I learn

about myself from my reaction or interpretation?

• What kinds of actions might I take in response to this?