Why Media Literacy is an Essential Tool in Taking Ownership of Media Consumption

Do you believe that every piece of information we encounter on television, social media or in newspapers is a coincidence and completely accurate? Unfortunately, we are manipulated by directors who are hidden behind the scenes. They use media tools which can vary widely but especially social media to integrate their values beliefs and views to other people or to generate revenue from people’s personal information. As a result of such manipulations. we may change our behaviors. decisions and even our world view unintentionally as they want.

It is difficult to avoid being exposed to manipulations because almost all of us are active users of television, social media sites. such as Instagram. Twitter etc. However, we should overcome the problem of the manipulative use of media by taking some steps. Firstly being an active consumer of media is a good method to prevent yourself from manipulative use of it.

The more unconscious a person is. the more likely he is to be manipulated.

Some authorities have the power of influencing people who want to abuse this power for their benefit. They present everything as they want to present and you only know what you see on the media platforms. Thus your opinions are formed according to their fallacies since you don‘t know the facts behind the conditions. However, if you are an active media consumer you have the potential to evaluate situations on your own and question what is being presented. When you hear information. you should first question its accuracy then research the details from different sources before developing your ideas.

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In this way you can reduce the manipulative power of social media on you. Secondly, the other method to solve the problem is to be aware of media manipulation techniques.

It is obvious that the number of tactics which are used to manipulate people are infinite: nevertheless knowing at least some of them prevents us from manipulations. For example, when something is planned to be presented negatively on media negative terms are used instead of normal words such as war instead of conflict. Moreover they even exploit people’s emotions like fear for their evil purposes. Since people are usually drawn to news that worries them. while creating headlines. manipulators use this tactic. Social media also uses the filtering feature which is based on your personal data to show you ads that are relevant to your interests and you probably want to purchase that product which is the way how they generate revenue from your data. In conclusion. although most people are unconcerned with becoming a victim of media manipulation it can lead to serious problems unless some measures are taken. We must remember that every piece of personal information we share on the internet has a cost and every piece of news we see on television has a background. Only if we don’t allow the media to control our lives and opinions will our existence be meaningful.