By Rosemary Smith (with help from Google AI)
Managing Director – Getting Better Foundation
Impact Producer – “Trust Me” Documentary
Who hasn’t followed bad advice about supplements, or whether to get their kids vaccinated, or invested in a time-and-money losing bad idea? If you’ve made these or other blunders, chances are, you operated on mis- or dis-information.
According to Google, “Public Health” is the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting health through organized efforts and informed choices of society. It focuses on improving the health of entire populations by means, including disease prevention, health promotion, and addressing health disparities. I argue that media literacy (ML) fosters all these healthy practices.
Media literacy should be considered the next public health campaign because it equips individuals with skills to navigate the evolving media landscape and make informed decisions, particularly regarding their health. ML is more than just fact-checking. Media, information, and now digital information are literacies that:
- Combat Misinformation and Disinformation: A deluge of information, including misinformation and disinformation, floods our daily lives. This can lead to significant public health consequences, including erosion of trust in science, hindrances to public health efforts, and jeopardized individual well-being. ML education helps individuals critically evaluate information, enabling them to distinguish between credible and misleading content. This is especially crucial in a world where fake news and disinformation are rampant, fueled by social media platforms and the increasing ability to create realistic false images and content — as well as human tendencies toward confirmation bias.
- Promoting Healthier Behaviors: Media can significantly influence health behaviors, and ML interventions have shown positive effects on knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to health and risk. For example, ML education can help young people develop critical thinking skills to protect them from negative media influences related to body image, substance abuse, and unhealthy relationships. By recognizing and questioning unrealistic portrayals or harmful messages in media, individuals can make healthier choices. ML programs have been shown to make students more skeptical of advertisements and aware of gender stereotypes, contributing to better protection against harmful media messages.
- Empowering Individuals and Communities: ML empowers individuals to be active and responsible participants in the media landscape, capable of engaging with media content in a critical and responsible manner. It encourages individuals to question stereotypes, challenge dominant narratives, and seek alternative viewpoints, fostering a more inclusive and equitable society. This enables individuals to make informed decisions about their health, avoid harmful health practices, and engage in meaningful discussions about public health issues. ML education also plays a role in fostering civic engagement, as it equips individuals with the skills to differentiate fact from opinion and detect false information.
- Overcoming Differences to Work Together at Solving Problems: We humans are adept at recognizing our differences. However, the advent of the internet and the 24/7 news cycle, are fostering a culture of extremes. Extreme ideas, extreme availability, and extreme untruths give bad actors access to those most vulnerable – the young, the seniors, the innocents – with online manipulation. Even unwittingly sharing misinformation can cause harm to ourselves and others. We then become defensive as our reputation becomes threatened. These extremes polarize us further, causing vitriol for our fellow man. When we lose trust in one another, we are less apt to help one another. This leads to further decline in civil society. It risks our ability to work together to solve the more pressing problems facing our world.
- Addressing the Evolving Media Landscape: As technology continues to shape information dissemination, ML skills become essential for navigating social media platforms, online and 24-hour cable news and opinions, and health influencers. The rise of artificial intelligence and deepfakes further highlights the importance of ML in discerning real from manipulated content.
- ML education helps us develop lifelong skills: These include safely navigating the internet, evaluating the credibility of sources, and protecting our privacy online.
In short, ML is crucial for ensuring individuals are equipped to make informed decisions about their well-being. A public health campaign focused on ML can empower individuals, promote healthier behaviors, and help combat the spread of mis- and dis-information, ultimately contributing to a healthier society.
You can support media literacy efforts by:
- Support Media Literacy education in schools by contacting your local legislator to ask how media literacy is being taught in your state. Bills and legislative efforts can be seen at medialiteracynow.org
- Support the efforts of the good guys producing apolitical ML resources by becoming aware of the importance of media literacy. Watch the Walter Cronkite award-winning film, “Trust Me” Documentary at trustmedocumentary.com
- Sponsor a “Trust Me” film and speaker event at your school, organization, business, or in your community: trustmedocumentary.com