CRITICAL THINKING AND MEDIA LITERACY

 

The media are present in everyone's life, whether we are aware of it or not, whether to inform us, entertain us or even make our lives easier; knowing the state of the weather, congested roads, important events or activities is a task that the media know very well how to cover, but we must know that there are other types of news that can be influenced by the media in which the truth could be disguised or not completely true, due to the interests of some that could take precedence to distort the truth. 

Hence the importance of critical thinking and media literacy; in a world where technology has become an essential part of our lives, we are not allowed to digest at first; all news, information, controversy, must be taken with the responsibility to verify their sources, analyze contexts, validate the information and especially not become part of the media ball without being convinced that the information received is true.

Technological advances such as the implementation of artificial intelligence or AI force us not to believe everything we see, in the past we used to say “seeing is believing”, today even that is not possible, tools so advanced that allow us to create false scenarios, scenes and situations, but which seem so real, give way to fake news, which can be as harmful for those who suffer them as for those who believe them.

We are bombarded with advertising on TV, radio, internet and now even on streaming platforms that there is no sporting event, series or movie that is not selling us a product; a product that we do not need and at the end of the day we end up consuming, all because they know how to do their job very well; and it is here where we must be responsible with what we consume, see and how we will allow, or not, that the media affect our lives.

 

Thank you for reading.