Being critical of how the media is impacting our emotional well-being as we navigate within our own media landscapes is just as important as being conscious of the presence of influence.
Author: The Canaries
Conscious Consumption
Reflecting upon our own emotional experience as we consume, use, and create media will help us to better understand our own engagement. What use creates joy or wellness? What use creates despair or frustration? What are the boundaries I need to set for myself?
Emotions & the Language of Understanding
Taped to my window is a brightly colored, eight-part chart entitled “Emotion Cards” that was provided to me by the outstanding organization Building Bridges. It includes the typical emotions one might think of when they are asked the seemingly simple question, “How are you feeling?”. The headlines are happy/sad/angry/bad etc., but then it drops down to more specific reactions. Under “anxious” are the terms scared, insecure, defensive, and fearful; below those come even more specific language: helpless, inadequate, excluded, exposed.
Find Your Voice
What is the purpose of your online voice?
Voting Experiences
Election day is Tuesday, November 3. At American Canary, we acknowledge the heightened importance of this election and encourage you to engage your voice – by casting your vote.
Across this country, millions of people are having unique experiences trying to cast their ballot and make sure their voice is heard. We have been inspired by the perseverance of US voters in this election as they overcome tremendous obstacles in their effort to exercise this fundamental right.
For the November Monthly Engagement, we wanted to share our own individual voices in response to the following…
Hyperpartisanship & Democracy
In the past six months, I have been called a liberal scumbag, mindless leftist, TWAT, pedophile lover, and my all-time favorite, fascist. Standing up for Black lives and the fight for racial equality online has automatically made users who disagree with my views paint me as a donkey-riding believer carrying my blue flag of righteousness. Why see me as a decontextualized representative of a political party, instead of an individual human being, with complexity, history, a family, and a nuanced story of my own?
Identify Values
self reflection exercise: What are the values that are essential to your life both on and offline? One of the main components to becoming a media literate digital citizen is understanding and reflecting on our own use of the media and how it impacts our life. Being a digital citizen is not something to accomplish […]
Media’s Impact on Democracy
Upon hearing this question I imagine that most people would have an opinion, or at least a reaction. ‘The media’ is seemingly omnipresent, and perhaps best symbolized by the constant temptation of an entire world of information accessible to us at any moment, being carried around in our pockets. And ‘democracy’ is a word that evokes both a way of life, and an expectation of rights, processes, and forms of expression that can be easy to take for granted. These two concepts – democracy and media – exist both in tandem and in conflict with one another, and we invite you to join us in reflecting on the important relationship between the two…