by Rita Malheiro

People cannot control what is published on the Internet because everyone can share whatever they want, even if it is just a dumb thought that occurred to them. One of the first things that you should do when reading, watching or listening to a Media production is to evaluate its credibility, which is something that only a Media Literate is capable of doing. Anything that makes you doubt, you should look further and do a research on your own in order to guarantee that you are getting correct information. When doing your own research, try to enlarge your knowledge by considering multiple perspectives. By doing that, your research will not only have your opinion but others’ opinions as well, contributing to the expansion your knowledge.

We all know that Media influences our beliefs, attitudes, values and behaviors, but what about Media directed to children? How can we, young adults, adults, parents or “older” people make sure that children are getting the right informations and taking full and correct advantage of Media productions? As Media Literate people, we should try to guide our children so that they don’t take into account anything that they see and think critically instead. Starting, maybe, by being by their side when they are searching their favorite programs or just by knowing what they are watching and decide if it is something they should or they shouldn’t see. By being in constant awareness, you can stop them from seeing unwanted information. Images have a lot of power on children, you must teach them how to understand and how to “read” the message.

Children are too young to really understand the extreme power of
Media and so it’s our job to teach them. Perhaps, when they are older, they will know how to choose their sources of information. Who knows if Media productions will, one day, be more real or at least the vast majority of the world will know how to use the different Media platforms wisely and effectively. The thought of living in a world where I don’t have to worry about whether the information that is being passed is accurate or not enlightens me.

The question is, are you teaching your kids how to be critical or are you simply letting them learn by themselves while you concentrate on your own things?

by Rita Malheiro

“I had a feeling she might be watching me”. It can be wrongly interpreted but in this case, he knows, she knows, they all know. New Era technologies allow you to know where your loved ones are at any time and even how long have they stayed at a certain place. It goes even further, with systems that can be incorporated into cellphone software, allowing you to block your children from viewing sexual content, block certain phone numbers, shut down their devices during any given periods and even monitor how much and who they are texting.

This all looks nice but some parents take full and inappropriate advantage of these systems and kind of stalk their kids’ lives. Some say that by doing that, children will start losing their sense of privacy. In future relationships (or even friendships), they might not be able to distinguish between a healthy and an unhealthy one, with partners wanting to know all their passwords and every move their “loved ones” make.

There are also those who use these systems to make themselves feel safer, by making sure that their kid is coming home without any incidents or if their spouse is moving in the horrible snow storm that might be happening outside, or by knowing that their lover is going to get home by dinner time so that things can be arranged and scheduled accordingly, for instance.

It all has to do with who is using it and how that person is using it. As long as there’s mutual trust and respect, this kind of systems can be very helpful and assist us in positive ways.

What about you, what do you think about this subject?

Source

Hi,

We are a group of four students at Escola Superior de Educação – Instituto Politécnico do Porto. This website is one of the components of our final project for the subject of Matrizes Culturais Inglesas nos Media. We’ll be posting texts that we have produced, as well as some bonus stuff!

If you want to learn a little bit more about each of us individually, please proceed to the Who we are section of our website!