How does Media and Information Literacy affect you and your understanding about media?

Media has grown bigger and better every time. In media, images are very useful to get across messages effectively. Before, our perception about media is very narrow and limited. It is one of the means or channels of general communication in our society. We are very familiar with the basic functions of media but now that we are currently studying media information literacy my eyes were opened to a lot of unfamiliar things and now we know that media could be more than just a channel or medium that we can interact very freely with the use of media and it is the medium for freedom of speech.

Media has become a part of our life and it has great influence in our day to day life. They are powerful in the sense that, they even control our thoughts and actions. We decide to buy products on the basis of advertisements. In the modern world we depend upon media to get a clear picture about our society and the rest of the world. Our perception about the world is influenced by the medias. We react to certain news very emotionally. Media is so powerful, which can even create a revolution. For me, the most relevant function of media is to act as a channel of information through which citizens communicate with each other and make informed decisions. Because media makes communicating much easier - and quicker in an instant. We use certain apps that helps us connect with people directly. It makes communicating fast, easy, and reliable.

Media has been really helpful to us these past few days for it is anything and everything that you watch and listen in a form of text, photograph, audio, video and many. We use these may it be in school, or even in the workplace. They are a big help for entertaining us and keeping us updated to news. But what is really the relevance of media to us aside from above mentioned reasons? For us, the most relevant function of media is the first one which states that “media acts as channels of information”. Dissemination of information is the major function of mass media. Since information is knowledge and knowledge is power, media offer authentic and timely facts and opinions about various event and situations to mass audience as informative items. Information provided by mass media can be opinionated, objective, subjective, primary and secondary. Informative functions of mass media also lets the audience knows about the happening around them and come to the truth. Media disseminates information mostly through news broadcast on radio, TV, as well as columns of the newspaper or magazines. Moreover, advertisements are also mainly for information purpose. It is a channel of information through which citizens communicate with each other and make informed decisions. Because media makes communicating much easier - and quicker in an instant. We use certain apps that helps us connect with people directly. It makes communicating fast, easy, and reliable.

Media is very important for the society since it is one of the fastest and efficient way to receive information on various subjects, most importantly current affairs. The impact of media is very important on society as it helps in building public opinion and stoke collective consciousness. In addition, there are times that we thought we could have used the media to inform people about certain incidents. The purpose of being information and media literate is to engage in a digital society; one needs to be able to use, understand, inquire, create, communicate and think critically. It is important to have capacity to effectively access, organize, analyze, evaluate, and create messages in a variety of forms. It could have been useful during the time that we were experiencing heavy rain and typhoons here in Cagayan de Oro City to inform everyone and prepare ahead of time with the use of technology. Another incident happened last Monday, July 2, 2018. There was a fire in Barangay Carmen, Cagayan de Oro City. Whoever first saw the fire, immediately informed the officers and the citizens - until the fire fighters came to stop the fire. Media saved the fire. Without media, there couldn't be a quicker way to inform the people.

These simple actions we make through media have helped others to be informed with what is happening around them. This could have kept them safe through times like these. Let us be informed at all times and use media as a medium not only for personal purposes or entertaining yourself but also, we need to use it for updating ourselves with relevant news that may help us be more responsible citizens. Let us use media properly the way it is designed--- to inform, entertain and our source for credible news if used correctly.