Media Literacy: The Negative Impact Of Social Media

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Technology, and media specifically, can distort what we see as reality. The news, television programs and articles make our society think outside their own values. The media can have a huge impact on our behaviors such as violence, sexual behavior and stereotypes. The impacts that the media has I feel are primarily negative. Yes, they can have a positive impact, but generally I feel it portrays the wrong idea, causing a very negative impact on those viewing.
The media has a huge impact on our behaviors at all ages. Whether it deals with violence, drug use, sexual behavior, ext. The media can introduce ideas that we never would have seen elsewhere. The media can manipulate what we see, and how much we see it causing us to have a different idea
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Media literacy is the ability to read, interpret, critically asses, and productively use media texts. The media has very different target audiences ranging from young kids all the way to adults. When it comes to kids, there is a theory that makes total sense to me and is beneficial. The parental mediation theory argues that quality interpersonal communication between parents and children about media-related issues is a requisite part of what we now consider to be good parenting. There are different forms to this such as active mediation, restrictive, co-viewing and participatory learning. Depending on the parent, will choose which one of these mediations they want to use. I think the most important part of this theory is just limiting the amount of television and media the child consumes. Limit the amount of hours of media they consume. A child only needs some much media, and the parents need to teach them their own morals. This theory makes sense to me because of my own experience with my parents. They wouldn’t necessary limit the amount of television I would watch, but taught me activities to do outside, like riding my bike, playing sports and overall just being active. That was their mediation and I think it payed

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