“Media Literacy is a 21st century approach to education. It provides a framework to access, analyze, evaluate, create and participate with messages in a variety of forms — from print to video to the Internet. Media literacy builds an understanding of the role of media in society as well as essential skills of inquiry and self-expression necessary for citizens of a democracy.”
Media literacy is one of the most essential things we can become proficient in today. Why?
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It can help prevent us from comparing ourselves to unrealistic ideals
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Differentiating “fake news” from real news that is relevant
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Understanding a source’s bias, whether it be your friend’s post-woke Instagram post or how ABC News won’t produce any negative content on Disney (hint: ABC News is owned by Disney)
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Helps us not internalize messages promoted by the media a.k.a depressive tumblr posts, hetero-normative pornos
All in all, media literacy is our fourth wall break from the digital world. It is what teaches us mortal beings that indeed, what we see online is not real and we shouldn’t try to become an airbrushed Vogue model. This seems like a rational thought, but our subconscious doesn’t process these rational thoughts and oftentimes we end up feeling insecure about or bodies because of our exposure to media. Especially as women.
Now, we are college-aged and most of us have never seen a time without digital/social media so we understand how to navigate this to a fair extent. We also have our parents’ cynicism about the media and “that damn technology” to distance us from what our devices show us, or at least be distrustful that “the NSA is watching” and whatnot- I mean, tell me one person that doesn’t have their camera taped over on their laptop. Even Mark Zuccerberg does it (and he tapes over his mic too, just saying).
But for younger girls, this might not be the case. How can we expect a kid to question that everything they’re exposed to online, or at least most of it isn’t reality? This is why as a generation that lies within the “in-between” space of digital media, exposed to the perils of modern technology but not completely submerged within a time where “Influencer” is a six figure career, we can do a lot to reflect and review on our relationship to the digital.
There are steps that you can take to differentiate yourself from the waves of fit-tea, washboard ab, multi-million-dollar-house Instagram feeds that are proven make us miserable (and without saying the people in those photos aren’t happy either).
Here’s some things I did that have made me feel a lot better about my body/culture/being in the past year:
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Followed more latinx models/influencers on Instagram that actively advocate for latinx rights. Everyone loves to follow beautiful women on the internet, but it’s awesome when a feed is both aesthetic photos and knowledge on topics relevant to you.
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Following plus-sized models, makeup gurus, fashion inspo accounts- you name it! My body type is definitely not size 2, and I’ve learned a lot from these influencers on how I like to dress for my body, that certain styles I was taught by mainstream media I “couldn’t wear” such as crop tops actually look awesome on curvy ladies.
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Took a media literacy class! This was great because beyond the feminist issues relating to media today, the political issues within the media are bizarre and unrecognized yet blatantly present. I would 10/10 recommend taking at least one course on media of whatever kind- it’s so important today and also super interesting (lots of watching documentaries in class too)
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Unfollowed the Kardashians and Emily Ratajkowski. I know, I love them and it’s awful but I realized their posts just made me feel bad about my body and my socio-economic class so I dipped
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Taking cute pictures of myself :~) Always helps to feel cute if you’re the one in front of the camera!