20 Media Literacy and Gen Z
By Alyssa Riley
As a Gen Zer growing up since the turn of the 21st century, I have witnessed the technological evolution of many media devices and platforms.
The first iPod hit the market before I was 10 years old, but despite my pleas, it wasn’t until the release of the iPod Nano that my parents caved in. When e-readers became available, it wasn’t long before my parents gifted me a Nook for Christmas, even though I was fearful that print books would soon become extinct. Additionally, because I wasn’t allowed a cellphone until I was 13 years old, I regularly utilized digital cameras and my friends’ iPads for photos and videos.
Today, it seems inevitable that advances in AI will further impact the devices we use and how we consume media content. But we also face potential risks due to AI damaging the credibility of mass media content.
Because media consumption has become integral to our daily lives, it shapes our beliefs, attitudes, values and identity. Additionally, media content entertains, informs, and engages users – both in negative and positive ways. Better understanding the effects of our media usage is integral to media literacy, something that is learned and mindfully grown.
This brief chapter explores the concept of media literacy with an emphasis on Generation Z.
Your Media Landscape
In your personal media usage, do you ever sense that you become more like a lab rat than an independent-thinking consumer? If so, when does that happen, and what media habits could or should you change?
What Is Media Literacy?
Most definitions of media literacy focus on our ability to access and analyze media messages. One study from the Knight Foundation defines it as creating and sharing messages in a manner that promotes “independent thinking, authentic dialogue, collaboration, reflection, creativity, and social responsibility.”
The concepts of media literacy are constantly evolving and expanding. Therefore, it is crucial that we, as media users, sharers and creators, are able to understand and practice it.
Click through the following slideshow to learn more about the concepts of media literacy:
Things We Care About
Part of media literacy is understanding how our media usage affects each of us individually, so we don’t just study the broad societal impact of med technology.
For example, many of us want to prevent our attention spans from declining so that we maintain our focus on the things we care about each day. In the following video, writer and philosopher Jared Henderson provides advice on how to do just that.
Media Literacy Education
As with traditional subjects like mathematics, history, English, and science, media literacy involves skills that we must learn and practice if we want to keep up with emerging research and evolving technology.
The organization Media Literacy Now stresses the need for enhanced education and skills training long before students arrive at college.
The ability to navigate within our complex and ever-changing media landscape depends on acquiring skills and tools to know how to consume and evaluate information, ask critical questions, avoid manipulation, and engage in digital spaces safely and confidently. Unfortunately, these skills are not widely taught to our young people – yet.
The idea of actively practicing media literacy may seem vague or daunting. Thankfully, there are resources that aid in decoding, analyzing, and practicing media literacy.
According to Ithaca College’s Project Look Sharp, there are nine categories for decoding media, regardless of form, message, or platform. Click through the following slideshow about ways to decode media through questions to ask yourself:
You can study more from Project Look Sharp’s objectives of media literacy for students.
Media Platforms
The term media can encompass digital, print, audio, video, social media and a variety of interactive content. Advertising is included as well. This makes it impossible to create a one-size-fits-all approach to media literacy, as the following perspective from the Center for Media Literacy suggests:
Although some groups urge families to just turn the TV off, the fact is, media are so ingrained in our cultural milieu that even if you turn off the set, you still cannot escape today’s media culture. Media no longer just influence our culture. They ARE our culture.
Similarly for Gen Z, media literacy isn’t as simple as unsubscribing from social media platforms.
Overcoming Deep Doubt
Members of Gen Z navigate a media landscape that could be called the Era of Deep Doubt, according to one Wired magazine essay.
Due to the rapid growth of media manipulation and AI-generated content, “people can now more credibly claim that real events did not happen and suggest that documentary evidence was fabricated using AI tools.” This makes media-literacy skills more important than ever.
Ultimately, our trust in what we see or read depends on how much we trust the source.
Media Consumption Assignment
First, be sure you’ve watched the chapter’s embedded video from Jared Henderson about “why we can’t focus.”
Next, reflect on your own media habits based on these questions:
- Do you agree with the Henderson’s perspectives about how and why we amuse ourselves to death? Based on content in this chapter and throughout this OER text, do you think this is more prevalent for Gen Z, or does it apply equally to everyone?
- What benefits do you derive from media consumption?
- In what ways, if any, does your media consumption hinder your personal productivity? Is this common to your generation or more universal?
- How do you think your media consumption affects your personal viewpoints?
- To what extent do you intentionally try to increase your media literacy on a regular basis?
Use specific personal examples to support your reflection. When possible, refer briefly to content from this chapter or elsewhere in this OER text.
Use a Q&A format for the bulleted items above with approximately three or four sentences per personal response.
This assignment is supposed to be about the human you. Avoid using AI platforms to generate your content.
