National Media Education Week

This is a week where educators across Canada gather to create awareness about media literacy, it is incredibly beneficial because the media has so much power, that the only way to be in control and feel confident in it when it may consume you, is to be as informed as possible about it. I have never heard of this week before and I wish when I was in public school it was more popular because I think I would have benefited greatly from knowing more than what I did then. However I personally did not hear much about it when the week rolled around, maybe it is a somewhat new thing that more people need to hear about, but I did read the website and participate in some kids games that I did really badly on, I also tried to only purchase things that were essential, no wants, but just like buy nothing day, it was very hard to do. This disappoints me because I feel that this could be a great week, especially to kids who wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to be exposed to something like this. 

The media is one of the most powerful things out there right now, it can change lives, it can inform and entertain and inspire hundreds of thousands of people every day. Millions of dollars and endless time is put into it and it is a major part of our society and yes we know of it because we interact with it every day but do we know enough about it? This week makes individuals literate by informing them about the nature, techniques and impacts of media messages and how they are conveyed and what their purposes is. It is a known fact that many kids are not watched or controlled when they are on the internet so they need to know about what is right and what is wrong and what to do if something bad happens such as cyber bullying or when a bad site comes up. The media is all around us even when we don’t notice it like listening to your iPod or seeing billboards and it can be inspiring and motivational but it can also be scary and dangerous like stereotyping and bad chat rooms. Overall we just need to be more educated because if its such a major part of our life we need to know as much as possible about it so we can protect ourselves.