Media literacy is a tool used to understand the deeper lessons of movies, TV shows, books, games, and more. It defines the ability to comprehend media and understand content clues and implied messages. For example, if one were watching the popular series, The Hunger Games, they would be able to define the allusions to real life present in the book, and the message the author tries to state.
Having media literacy is key to understanding a piece of media completely. It helps with conversations about the topic and lets you learn the lesson the creator intended to share.
But more recently, the term “media literacy” has been making its rounds online. It has become popular to accuse people of having no media literacy when they miss the mark on a theme, implication, etc. Whether it’s TikTok comments arguing or seeing videos about this topic, people are constantly talking about “nobody can understand metaphors anymore” or “complex characters aren’t understood.”
All these arguments lead people to blame media illiteracy, where people aren’t able to analyze the media they consume. In some fandom spaces, it has become clear that some people lack this ability, causing a large debate about what media literacy is and how it should be handled.
And while some really can’t decipher what they read and watch, it isn’t every single person out there. There are millions of TikTok videos talking about how people lack critical thinking in an effort to get people to try and support a change, but it brings conflict and misunderstanding when people start to lose the meaning of what media literacy really is, as if it were just one big game of telephone.
People have been accusing others of having media illiteracy simply because they have an opinion that differs from theirs. Or sometimes they would use the term “media illiteracy” to describe a simple misunderstanding. While media illiteracy is a common problem in spaces for media, it has been taken out of context and used in ways that don’t fit the original meaning of media illiteracy.
“Sometimes these debates on social media dramatize topics that they really don’t understand,” says Freshman Julianne Mae De La Llana.
Social media has a knack for blowing things out of proportion like this. The concept of media literacy is just the internet’s latest target to add to the list of trendy words that make TikTokers seem smart.
Media illiteracy is a hot topic of debate among many, but it also shows how bad our reading comprehension rates are getting as a society.
Reading comprehension, a tool we learn in elementary school, is a key part of having media literacy. And because our reading comprehension rates are slowly going down, with only 40% of children in America reading at a proficient level, according to Boston University. This raises serious concerns, as the rates are only getting lower, and many children in the new generation are unable to understand the media.
For reading comprehension to be declining, it is no wonder that media illiteracy is becoming a problem.
This phenomenon of media illiteracy taking its rounds online is a direct effect of literacy rates declining, with only 79% of the US adults being able to read by 2024, according to the National Literacy Institute.
“If you’re not able to comprehend words, you’re not gonna be able to comprehend content,” says freshman Tiffany Su. “People should educate themselves and read more. And because people are not reading, they just brainlessly scroll on their phones.”
Media literacy has become an increasing problem nowadays. Without the proper reading comprehension, nobody can truly understand a material, and it is only getting worse as time goes on. People argue about wanting to change for the better, but no work is really done towards it.