The Media and Information Literate Individual

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Enables people to interpret and make informed judgments as users of information and media, as well as to become skillful creators and producers of information and media messages in their own right.

 

Media and information improve quality of life

There is no denying the extent of how the media and information age has drastically improved the lives of people. Communication has been made easier. Information has become widely accessible. Conducting research has become more convenient. All these and more are enjoyed by media literate individuals and prove just how much the quality of life has improved thanks to media and information.

 

Media and information for greater political participation

The media and the government have a long standing relationship in the fields of public service. While the government serves the people by leading the nation towards progress, the media serve them by informing public about subjects they need or they want. Through the media reports of government activities and issues, the publics are informed of the political affairs in the country and are further encouraged to take a more active role in the government

 

Media and information promoting economic opportunities

The media industry has grown in number on today’s information age both in content and in the workforce. The open content contribution nature of the new media has made it possible for ordinary individuals to offer their materials for consumption often for free, or at times for a cost. Online content is free but has gained popularity, advertisers will offer to buy digital ad-space on a web page.

 

Even Youtube, a free video host, pays video contributors if their videos get enough views or of their channels have a high subscriber rate. Paid content, on the other hand, creates direct revenue. Free or not, media and information gives contributors platform for earning additional income.

It is true that the influx of media offerings has led to the creation of more jobs in the media. The convergence of various media platforms has created hybrid mediums that require experts to run. New jobs like social media managers or multimedia specialists have been created because of this growth. Even IT based jobs which were once rarities in the media are now a necessity. As media and information grow, so does jobs that require media and information literate individuals, and when jobs grow, so does the economy. Employment or the lack thereof still persists as an economic problem in most developing countries like the Philippines. The media industry in the age of information plays a vital catalyst role to address that.

 

Media and information for improvement of learning improvement

Many believe that media and information have made learning easy, accessible, and inexpensive. With these are true, the improvement in the learning environment brought by media and information goes beyond convenience, availability, and cost.

 

Learning in schools meant understanding –or at least attempting to- subjects for the sake of passing and getting good grades. One’s education is given importance because it is pre-requisite to a good job which is then equated to a good life. Traditional learning environments have caused people in general to lose appetite for knowledge. Luckily, media and information have cleansed society’s palate and have reinvented learning as a whole.

Media does not force feed information to unwilling receivers, instead, media has made information sought after. The media also made learning a choice instead of a necessary evil. After all, no one is commanded “google” a topic or enrol in a certain online course, people who do to choose to do it. Since the media is source information and information age is characterized by the abundance of data, media and information have been closely linked to the improvement of the learning environment in the present age. A media and information literate individual take advantage of this further his or her lifelong learning process.

 

Media and Information individuals as more cohesive social units

The concept of unit cohesion stems from a military concept of bond soldiers have that makes them more effective in working together to complete a mission. Media and information literate individuals are said to be more cohesive social units than those who are not.

 

By keeping them informed, as well as connecting them in ways that weren’t possible before, media and information literates become more cohesive social units. This creates a bond that does not only have relational implications but also creates social impacts.

The media is said to have the power to affect social change. While this is true, it is not the media that does the heavy lifting to create change in society, it is the individuals in the society who developed a clamoring need for change because of media. The media may play a hand towards a holistic development of the society, but without media and information literate individuals sharing the same goal, development would not occur.

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