Am I Media Pre-Literate?

    Media literacy is the ability to accurately analyze and evaluate media, which can be social media, books, videos, etc. For a crash course you can visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIaRw5R6Da4. (I will not be using the 5 questions from this video). In my adult life, I haven't had to consider how media literate I am. I look up what I want to know, either find an answer or don't, and I move on. But this class has made me question; what is my media literacy level? Since I'm thinking about it, I should answer that question using a few more questions.

Can I assess who created the media, what they are trying to do with it, and what they want to get out of it? Yes. One point for me.

Do I assess who created the media, what they are trying to do with it, and what they want to get out of it? Sometimes but not when I am in a hurry. .25

Do (or did before yesterday) I know how to restrict my searches to give me more trustworthy sources. No, 0

Do I restrict my searches? No, 0

Do I move on to the second page of found sources? No, 0

Do I look for a diversity of opinions in media? Sometimes, I typically just look at the first couple of sources that fit what I am looking for. When I am researching a product or something that has specific relevance to me I will look at a variety of opinions and try to discern what I am seeing. .5

Can I assess media	1pt
Do I assess madia	.25
Do I know how to restrict searches	0
Do I restrict searches	0
Do I continue to 2nd page of results	0
Do I look for a diversity of opinions	.5
	1.75/6 Low Literacy

Looks like I have a small problem.

    I remember that there used to be discussion a few years back about how technology was flooding people with stimulus and an unprocessable amount of information. The discussion was mostly negative from people who didn’t grow up with all this information and connectivity available to them. They were right on many details and many were pragmatic to say that these technologies are not going away and that kids growing up now will need to be educated on how to navigate the world with all of these distractions and mass of information.

    The new generations need to be taught what they are seeing, why it is there, how to discern what is worth noting and what is not, and how to produce content in a time where production is at its easiest. And it looks like I, as well as many others slightly more removed from the age of information, need to work on literacy as well. I look forward to the capability this era gives to individual people, and I accept my responsibility to get informed and literate for myself.