It seems that the media is playing a pivotal role in influencing our perceptions of things, places and people. Media seems to be everywhere in our lives: books, theatre, films, television, radio, newspapers, magazines, advertisements etc. Therefore, it’s no surprise that we find most of our memories that we have about things and places being associated with some forms of media. Of course there are exceptions, such as when one has physically travelled to another part of the world and hence has been physically present at the site.  Another exception is when one acquires information through another person. Even then, we can’t really tell if the other party has received the information through some forms of media.

This is how strongly influenced we are by the media.

So, are we able to steer clear of the media’s influence of things that we associate with in our lives? The answer is most probably a resounding “No”, the obvious reason being that the media is prevalent in society.  We also require the media to provide us with news of happenings as we do not have eyes and ears everywhere. We also do not have the ability to travel around the world and gather the daily happening within a single day on a daily basis. The media often acts as our eyes and ears due to their ability to have networks and foreign correspondents globally. 

Nevertheless, the important question to ask ourselves is not “How do we avoid the media?” (since we need the media in one way or another. In fact, this writer is using a blog [one form of new media] to communicate with all of you) but rather, “How do I make use of the media to benefit me?”

Here are some questions below to increase your media literacy skills: 

- What is not included in the information that the media provides? : In our daily lives, we often read, absorb and digest whatever information is given to us. We seldom stop to question the parts of the information that is vague, excluded or not given. Hence, we become receptive to similar images portrayed by the media. Over time, there’s a high probability that we will see associations between what we see and what the media has shown us.  We need to ask the question “What is not included in the information that media provides?”, and be able to understand and analyse things from multiple perspectives. For example, if a media film reviewer concluded his or her film review with “On the whole, the film lacks a strong story theme for it to be a great film”, we can ask ourselves if the film excels in other areas, such as the narrative, the cinematography, the editing etc. There are indeed many ways to appreciate a film.

- Emotions and promotion of lifestyle evoked by images of advertisement:  Think about the images of advertisement. Do you think that they are trying to promote a certain lifestyle? Are you adapting to the promoted lifestyle due to the advertisement? Are you being influenced by your peers to adapt to this lifestyle? Are you comfortable with the promoted lifestyle? If not, it will be good not to be influenced by such images too much.

- Consumerism and the media: The media promotes goods and services while earning profits through revenue provided by advertisers to promote their products. Sometimes, associations are made between products and we may associate our past associations with something that we wish to purchase. For example, visiting a sports attire shop may cause us to buy brands that we are exposed to through advertisement in the media, while leaving the less advertised brands out in the cold. Sometimes, the unknown brands are excellent in quality and durability, and their low popularity may merely be due to a lack in publicity and advertising.

In a nutshell, there’s almost no way we can avoid the media, and this is especially so in this media age, where internet has provided everyone with access to all types of information. Nevertheless, we have the choice and power to select which information to receive.  In fact, we need to be selective in the things we receive from the media.

One thing that we can do is to ask these questions in the following order when we come into contact with any form of media:

-  Is this information relevant to me?

-  Does this information improve the quality of my life?

-  Am I able to make use of this information to improve my life?

Only when you have answered “yes” to all the three questions above will the information be beneficial to you. 

Considering the massive amount of information that is prevalent both online and offline, accessing tons of information will only result in information overload. When we are perceptive and discerning in selecting information (almost in the same way that the media handles “gatekeeping”), we avoid being overwhelmed by information overload. Over time, the media will gradually lose its grip in its ability to associate (often irrelevant) things with us in our lives. This is when we will develop a mindset of our own based on our perception and analysis of things.

And this is when we can truly call our lives our own.