Holly Zaher teaches mathematics and Theory of Knowledge, the core course for the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. She holds a Master’s of Divinity and her research interests include the role of curiosity in inquiry and the intersection of cultural studies and theology.

“By 2015, it is estimated that Americans will consume both traditional and digital media for over 1.7 trillion hours, an average of approximately 15 and a half hours per person per day.” (http://www.marshall.usc.edu/faculty/centers/ctm/research/how-much-media)

Fifteen and a half hours per person per day. Each time a student in a class in my high school (thinks he or she) sneaks a glance at their smart phone to continue the latest text conversation. Every time a couple of tweens watch a video on YouTube. All of these add to those 15 and a half hours.

While some of that time consists of our students using media to express their identity – through Wii avatars, text messages, YouTube videos, Instagram photos, snapchats, etc. – much of that time consists of students consuming media, “absorbing” media, as the Oxford English Dictionary uses in the definition of the word consume, “all of the attention and energy of (someone).” Consumption abounds, whether it’s a first grader getting lost in playing educational games, a fifth grader falling down the YouTube rabbit hole watching someone play video games he doesn’t even own, or a middle schooler watching entire seasons of the latest tween drama put on Netflix. While this is not solely a young people problem, it does uniquely involve them as they are growing up in a culture where this has been the norm for them since when they were young.

Students spend hours consuming media but many have yet to be taught how to reflect and engage that media in meaningful ways. In order to increase students’ metacognition, that thinking about thinking, students need to first reflect. Reflection is necessary for higher ordered skills on Bloom’s Taxonomy. Reflection is the first step to media literacy.

In our classrooms, we can create reflection routines that students utilize when viewing media, from commercials, shows, documentaries or movies. Sample questions for these routines could include ones like these taken from Center for Media Literacy.

1. Who created this message?
2. What creative techniques are used to attract my attention?
3. How might different people understand this message differently?
4. What values, lifestyles, and points of view are represented in or omitted from this message?
5. Why is this message being sent?

Fifteen and a half hours. Most likely the time that Americans will consume media on a daily basis will increase, not decrease. Hopefully reflection through increased media literacy in our students will also increase, allowing more and more of our students to move from passively consuming media to engaging it.

Citations

http://heathercarlile.com/the-relationship-costs-of-skipping-identity-in-adolescence/. n.d.

http://takeaction.takepart.com/actions/question-your-media-vet-it-you-share-it. n.d.

http://www.marshall.usc.edu/faculty/centers/ctm/research/how-much-media. n.d.

http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html. n.d. 17 October 2015.

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/consume. n.d.