Weekly Reflection Post
Hello College Freshmen,
Welcome to your new school! I’m sure you’re looking forward to meeting new people and getting to know your way around campus. College is about learning new things and get to know new people.
I realize, given your age, that you’ve grown up in a digital world. The internet and smart phones have been a large part of your life since you can remember. Having that familiarity with the digital world is great but the most important skill you could have for that space is media literacy.
You’re entering college during an amazing time. At no point in human history has information been as accessible to the world as it is today with smart phones, the internet and social apps like Twitter. Any person in the world with a smart phone and access to the internet can read, watch and share content from anywhere in the world. It’s truly an incredible time.
Unfortunately, with that seemingly limitless access comes some dangers. Media literacy will help arm you against some of those dangers. You need to view all of the content and information that you read with a analytical eye. Social media provides people with the ability to put any information out to the masses and often times they are creating or spread “fake news.”
You must understand that and make sure you always question the content and sources. Review the accounts information is coming from and cross check the stories or statements with other credible news sources.
Being Media Literate means you’ll need to be your own investigative journalist and seek out the truth. You can’t take stories and posts online, especially within social platforms, on face value. There are people and organizations around the world with a mission to sway your opinion through false propaganda. That’s nothing new, false propaganda has been around throughout history. The challenge we see today is due to the advances in digital technology. That’s the reason media literacy is so important, internet bots and false social accounts are talented at masking the fact they are fake.
Just recently there have been news reports on a new technology called “Deep Fakes.” Deep Fakes are a form of Artificial Intelligence that allows users to use there own voice and words and have it appear like someone else is speaking. The technology is so good, people can make it look like world leaders are saying something when it’s actually someone else.
That’s why it’s so important for you to stay on guard, question sources, cross reference stories and continue to sharpen your media literacy skills. Don’t be nervous, you have the skills you need. Now just use your inquisitive mind to investigate the truth and always know you’re in control.
You decide what you want to believe and with a little work and a trained eye, you’ll find the truth.
seanpgriffin.com 