When I was younger, I learned through observation. I learned about life and how to do things through watching my family. As I grew, I still learned through observation, but also from my own actions. I started making my own mistakes and learning from them. Finally now I learn mostly through media outlets (Baran, 2014). Television, social media websites, the Internet all give me must of the information that I learn now (Baran, 2014).
Today I woke up, and while looking at my newsfeed on Facebook, I saw someone post a link about the age of the Moon being revealed (Choi, 2014). Charles Choi’s article titled Moon’s Age Revealed, and a Lunar Mystery May Be Solved (2014) does seem to be true to me. There are a couple of reasons why it seems to be true to me. The first reason is that there is no real reason that I can see why it would be made up (Kovach & Rosenstiel, 2010). It is not a gossip story that would cause controversy, it is not a story that is speculating information that could lead to a major audience wanting to discuss it, it really is not doing much other than stating information (Kovach & Rosenstiel, 2010). So all of that begs the question that if it is not true, why would it really need to be posted because it is not doing anything to specifically gain an audience in any way or cause controversy (Kovach & Rosenstiel, 2010)? The second reason that I believe it to be true is because the link that my friend on Facebook posted, lead to me to a site that I find to be reliable (Kovach & Rosenstiel, 2010). This article is posted on Yahoo.com, which, for me, has been a consistently reliable source of information, so that also contributes to me believing this.
I definitely think that at times social
media sites can be reliable for obtaining credible information. If for no other
reason, the odds are definitely against social media sites always posting not credible information. But beside that, people
are the ones that are posting on the social media sites, so it is actually up
to the people whether they post credible information or not (Kovach &
Rosenstiel, 2010). I had to scroll through two other links that my friends on
Facebook posted before I found one that I found to be credible. The other ones
were scandalous, and for me did not seem to be true. Both of the other posts
seemed to be trying to cause controversy, and even admitted to speculating most
of the information in the article (Kovach & Rosenstiel, 2010). Because of that, I could not
find a way to defend that they were true, so I had to scroll some more until I
found one that I could see as being credible.
Because of this, social media sites can
be reliable for credible information, if the people that are posting that
information are reliable for posting credible information (Kovach &
Rosenstiel, 2010). If those people are not, then, in turn, the social media
sites are not (Kovach & Rosenstiel, 2010).
Reference:
Baran, S. J. (2014) Introduction to mass communication: Media literacy and culture. (8th ed.) New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Choi, C. Q. (2014, April 2). Moon’s Age Revealed, and a Lunar Mystery May Be Solved. Space.com. Retrieved from http://news.yahoo.com/moons-age-revealed-lunar-mystery-may-solved-172146898.html
Kovach, B. & Rosenstiel, T. (2010).
Blur: How to know what’s true in the age of information overload. New York:
Bloomsbury, USA.
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ReplyDeleteHi Krista,
ReplyDeleteWe are both similar in the fact that we obtain most of what we know nowadays through new media outlets. Before this new media age, most of what I knew came from first-hand experience. For example, I remember when I was a young girl, I asked my older cousin how to braid hair. Nowadays, if I wanted to learn how to braid, I would simply pull up Google or YouTube on my cell phone and have an answer in half the time. New media outlets provide us with answers 'here and now'. This has allowed us to reach great lengths in many fields of study including healthcare, education, business, and science. On the other hand, new media has also impacted our exposure to human interaction.
Hi Krista,
ReplyDeleteI love this blog! It’s incredible to think that social media was non-existent only a generation ago. However, our everyday lives would seem incomplete without it? I wonder if our culture has become too reliant on the immediate and convenient form of social media. Since it is so immediate, is it always accurate? I don’t believe it is. It’s crucial that we be critical in our evaluation of the validity in social media.
Critical reading and thinking plays such an important role in dealing with social media. Everyday my Facebook feed is flooded by "posts" that seem like they are legitimate articles about a new "miracle food" for weight loss or optimal health. The accessibility of something like Facebook means that a corporation that sells a vitamins or herbal supplements can set up an account and make it appear as if there is sound science behind what they post, but further digging only yields the result of the products being ineffective and a scam, another way for a dishonest person or organization to make money. I think media literacy has to come into play and everyone needs to view what is posted on social media as a "starting point" to perhaps dig deeper and investigate further any information they might come across. The facts will bear out through this practice, but it will take some work on the part of the consumer.
ReplyDelete