Transcripts
1. Introduction: There's a very famous quote
that wants to add like this. The media doesn't tell
you what to think. The media tells you
what to think about. This little quote is a peek into what it's like to
have media literacy. There are tons of
people that are just mindlessly
consuming entertainment, a mindlessly consuming
content on the Internet. And they subconsciously belief, if it's on the Internet,
then it must be true. But that's not accurate. Someone with elevated levels of media literacy will
understand that. Just because it's
on the internet, doesn't mean it's untrue, nor does it mean that it's true. The person would elevated
levels of media literacy will withhold judgment until they properly evaluate the content. Because content can
eventually influence thoughts and thoughts can
eventually influence behavior. In this beginner's class, you will learn what
exactly media literacy is. The difference between
content versus contexts. How to improve your
own media literacy on a very practical level. And in the end,
you will be given a final project that
will allow you to test your media literacy skills or be alert in this content age. And if you're ready to
improve your media literacy, I look forward to
seeing you inside.
2. What is Media Literacy?: Media literacy is the
ability to purposefully consume content along
with create content. Let's start off with
the first part. Purposely consume. This is way different
than someone who just wasting time
on the computer. And they're just web-surfing. Not that web-surfing
in itself is bad. But if you're just
going from tab, tab to tab and the algorithm is telling
you what to consume, then this is not purposeful. This is mindless. But let's say on the other hand, you have an intention. You want to either learn
or you're entering, saying, I want to
be entertained. Now, you can consume
content with a purpose. Not only that, when you're
consuming a content piece, are you capable of telling
the intent behind the piece? Is this piece really just
masquerading as education? Or are they trying to
influence you in some way? This is a question we'll be answering later
on in this class. But just think about
it for right now as purpose, fully
consuming content. Another part that
many people forget about is purposefully
creating content. This does not mean
that you go on Facebook and began
whining about your day. And this is something
that is known as venting. But instead, let's say you go on Facebook and for a living, you deal with sewage systems. And you write a very
thoughtful Facebook status, a detailing the state of the
sewage systems in your city. This is purposeful. So the bottom line is
that with media literacy, we're not going for
purposeless and having algorithms dictate
our moods for us. Instead, we are
trying to dictate our own moods that will eventually influence
our behaviors.
3. Why Media Literacy is Important: They may be like, okay, I mean, this field
seems cool and all. But if it's that important, how come I wasn't taught
about it in school? The reason why is because
if you're looking very closely, times
are changing. There has been different
changes in errors. There was the agricultural age, there was the Industrial
Age, the Information Age. Nowadays, I would argue that were in the
storytelling age, a different
individuals are trying to create some form of content. There is an abundance
of content on the web. And more people than ever have access to enter the Internet. No more dialogue. So
with that being said, at this field is relatively new, but it is more
important in our era. I mean, in order to
learn more about media literacy is very
important that you learn about other topics on
what exactly is journalism? What are the penny newspapers? What does he Yellow Journalism. Those are topics
that if you want to build your media literacy, you will study in your own time. But the thing to
understand is that this field has been
around for ages. It just now more and more
people have a microphone. More people can start a podcast
I just from their rooms. It doesn't cost that much to buy the microphone and then I get a audio software and
then start recording. But what is the intention
of this podcast or is this person looking
strictly for themselves, masquerading for,
looking out for others. These are questions
you want to ask. But the main reason why media
literacy is so important is because information plays
a big role in our mind. And there's more information
and more stories than ever. It is up to us to be able to scope through the information to see what is valuable and
what is simply dots.
4. Content vs Context: The first step in order to
improve our media literacy is to understand the difference between content and context. Content is something that
is physical in nature. It's the material,
It's the letters, it's the pages,
it's the content. While the context
is something that is intangible, you
cannot see it. It is the theme. So view content as data, view contexts as the theme. Now, let me give you
a live demonstration of why this is so
important to understand. Let's say we're talking about
the power of reading books. Okay? Now, we could take this in two completely different angles. Let's say one angle, we assign the context that there is a power
to reading books. Because whenever you're reading
books, your sheet coding, your understanding,
you're learning from the experiences of other people and this is something
that is good. And then you begin
to explain why reading books is
beneficial for your mind, your body, your
spirit, and such. This is one path. Now imagine another path
where the person says, the power of reading books. I'm sure you've heard about
this called plenty of times. But I'm here to tell you that this quote is highly overrated. This power of reading books. This quote is pretty much a glorified way of saying,
don't put in the work. I just keep reading about
other people's experiences. But you, you're not getting
any experiences yourself. Notice something, uh, both of these content pieces are talking about the power
of reading books. But notice that slight
shift in context, changing the dynamic
that direction. So the thing that we
want to understand is that most people out there, they're very, very well-versed
and consuming the content. That doesn't really
require that much skill. But a very few people are capable of spreading
the context. The last question, why? That's one of the
main things you want to keep asking yourself. Why is this content piece being created in
the first place? Now in the beginning stages, this is going to require a little bit of
conscious effort. But over time, the more
that you keep doing it, the more debt, the intent. Even though it's invisible, it's going to be something that you can understand better. We do not have a
100% success rate. We can always be like all, trust me, I know this
person's intent. That would mean that
we are mind readers. But the more that we practice
asking the question, why on different content pieces? The more that we
improve our sensitivity towards what are the
intentions of this creator.
5. Consume a Lot of Content: You may be at that
point right now where you're watching this
class and you're like, Man, I'm feeling
a little scared. I mean, I actually never
knew that certain people had dark intentions when they
were creating content. I will just start that content was something very
passive in nature. And you're fearful attitude
may make you be like, Okay, I'm definitely going to stay
away from a lot of content unless I'm 110% sure of
this creator's intent. Although this may seem
like the safe thing to do, It is not the smart thing to do. Because here's the thing. With media literacy. The person who has
elevated levels of understanding can not only understand the good
guys perspective, they also need to understand the bad guys
perspective as well. This person that is trying
to improve their media literacy needs to understand
both sides of the coin. By understanding both
sides of the coin. They improve their understanding because now they could be like, okay, I know how the language that the
different sides use. I know the verbiage
that they use. I know the CTA call to
actions that each side uses. And over time, as you keep consuming more and more content, the more that you'll see that this whole idea of
good versus bad. It may work in some TV shows. But in the process of
consuming content, it is a very
subjective experience. A lot of individuals
that you can consider as this is the bad guy. From their worldview, they're
actually the good guy. And they view you as ignorant by exposing herself to a
whole bunch of content, especially on topics that we
fundamentally disagree with. The more likelihood that
we improve our chances of understanding the context
behind these pieces.
6. Assess the Intent: This class can be summarized
in a very easy way. Just keep asking why. The more that you keep exposing yourself to different content, the more that you just
want to keep asking why in the beginning stages. And this will help you
improve your media literacy. This is for the purpose. For consumption mode. Just keep asking why. You may be wondering, well, where do I even begin? One. In terms of consuming content, There's so much
opportunities, right? I'll keep it simple. Just follow your curiosity is in
the beginning stages. And if you don't have
any curiosities, I think about a problem that's been persisting
for some time. Let's say you've been trying to get abs for the
past three years. And each time you keep filling, each time you try to get abs, you end up losing so much muscle that you just turn
into skinny fat. Well, start to
consume a bunch of videos or consume
a bunch of blogs, podcasts, wherever
in the Internet, and keep consuming
more and more content. And as you're consuming more
and more of the content, just keep asking why, why, why is this person
really trying to teach me the science
behind getting Lean? Or is this person just trying to sell me their course?
And that's it. Is this person really
trying to teach me? Yes, they are fun to teach me and they're trying
to sell me their course because their course
gives the blueprint of what they had to
do to get the abs. But the bottom line that you need to understand is
the question of why. The more that you
keep asking why, the more debt you start
to participate with the content rather than just
being a passive consumer. And this is how you improve
your media literacy.
7. Purposefully Create Content: Not everyone is
going to be gamed for us creating content
on the Internet. Now some people may be like, I'm in my 40s right now. I have a family of kids. I mean, I don't have time
to write tweets on Twitter. But I would disagree with
that just a little bit. I will say that it
never hurts to create a little bit of content in whichever platform
you use the most. So hypothetically,
let's say you're not a person that wants to
be in the spotlight at all. You already have enough
things in your plate. Does ask yourself, where
do I consume content? Because it's been estimated that the average person consumes content for roughly 6 h a day, 6 h from either radio, podcasts, books, blogs,
something like that. So you're consuming, I'm just assuming you're like the general
public, are there. You're doing some
form of consuming. Where are you consuming
the most from? Now, let's say it's YouTube. Uh, you don't have to necessarily
make a YouTube video. But can you at least write one detailed comment on one of the videos that
resonated with you. I urge you to try it out. Because in the process of you are capturing your thoughts. You editing what you wrote to narrow down to the
nitty-gritty basics, you proofreading it, and
then you hitting Post, you build up a lot of
understanding what media literacy. It just gives you a little
peek on how to look at words differently that you see on the internet or
books in general. Because there's so
much thoughts we have. But what causes
someone to just get a few select dots from their internal world and
actually hit Publish. And if you have a lot of
time and you're like, I don't only want to
stop at one comment, I want to write at least
three tweets a day. More power to you. The more that you keep
creating content, the more that you will assess your own intent is sometimes
it's going to be dark. You're gonna be like, man, I created this video
strictly for the views. I didn't really care if it was doing good for others at all. But I just wanted to views
be honest with yourself. Other times you're like, I knew that this video
isn't going to get views. But I felt as though
the topic was so important that it
needed to be shared. Again, be honest with yourself. And each time that you do that, the more self-awareness that you build in terms of
your own content, which allows you to build more awareness in regards
to other people's content.
8. Final Project: For the final project,
I want you to find one content piece that you consumed this past week
that resonated with you. It's one of those content
pieces that you thought about. You replayed, you talked
about what one of your friends find
one of those pieces. Then I simply want you to
ask the question, why? Assess the intentions
of the Creator? Why did they create it? Were they trying to inform you or they trying
to persuade you? Were they doing
for themselves so they can grow their
subscriber base? I do your best to
assess the intent. Like I said earlier,
you will not have a 100% success rate. But by simply getting herself in the habit of
asking this question, you will improve your
sensitivity of what is great content versus
what is iffy content. Once you have found
the content piece, you have asked the question why. I want you to create a
short little paragraph of what you've discovered, what was the intention, and get as detailed as you
would like once you are done, a post that paragraph in the final project section
right down below. I look forward to reading it. I thank you very
much for joining this beginner's class
on media literacy. And if you would like to learn more content of
about a soft skills, be sure to check out
our money talks.com. In this website, you will learn more about
public speaking, social skills,
emotional resilience, and much more, or
money talks.com. Go on and check it out.
Arman Chowdhury, Confidence thru Communication
