Tag: literacy

Why care about media literacy?

Our lives rely on digital technologies to deliver our news, entertainment and information. Our abilities to effectively navigate online spaces and information is vital to progressing as a society. Without media literacy practices users of technology tend to find ineffective and inefficient pathways to the information they seek, getting trapped along the way by mis-information and online hate.

Media literacy helps to break this cycle of inefficiencies and provide users with the proper understandings to harness digital tools to enhance the productivity, connectivity and civic engagement within their individual lives.

Building Relationships Through Technology

Reflecting on the intricacies of defining friendship and how it is formed, sustained and evolves, I am tempted to say that relationships with friends and loved ones are evolving alongside technology. We now have opportunities to include those who are closest to us in the smallest moments of our day. Across the sea, or across the street, people can connect, share, and form consistent relationships without hindrance of time and space.

Internal vs. External Narratives ~ How do they impact our lives?

Do you hear that? That voice? That voice inside your head? That internal narrative we can have, guiding our every decision each and every day. This internal narrative that is so personal, so sacred to us is not inherently created from within. This story we tell ourselves is created and influenced by all the external narratives that we consume, from our lived experiences to those others share with us. It comes from the books we read, the shows we watch, the music we listen to. It is morphing constantly as we take in more information. And although it will always morph, that doesn’t mean that it is always changing.

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?