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[elaserbo]

“The Good and the Bad: How Social Media Affected Me as a Gen Z Individual”

Technology has been playing an important role in our lives. It had a very big impact on society and made our lives easier. And now that technology is continuously advancing, social media has also emerged into the picture. Social media being a big part of many teenagers’ lives has affected youth in today’s generation, mainly the Gen Zs. It allows us to experiment, find, and create our identities as teenagers who are doing their best to survive from this cruel society. Teens also use social media for entertainment and self-expression. Our voices can also be amplified, especially those who have platforms or to those who are in need of help. Another good that we can get from social media is communication and interaction. It makes it easier for the people of this generation to be able to communicate with someone who's far away and helps us to still keep in touch with them. We can also find and make new friends that may be a help to alleviate loneliness and depression. Social media has helped us get information much faster because of its accessibility. We can now be aware and be updated on the news and important events that are happening in our surroundings, our very own country, and even every corner of the world. Because it’s easy to get in touch with a large group of people, information can be shared and can spread quickly and effectively. And fake news is not an exemption.

Social media taught me/us as Gen Z individuals to always fact check news/information before sharing it because it can greatly affect us once it is all over the internet. It taught me/us to always be careful in whatever I do and whatever I click. Most (if not all) of the Gen Zs are most likely prone to having poor time management and wasting hours by just scrolling and checking through their different social media accounts. Gen Zs spend too much on their phone that it disrupts their sleep, and develop a possibility that can damage their eyes and mental health. Yes, social media has a big part in protecting our mental health because it makes us more anxious, more fragile, and more depressed because aside from making us isolate ourselves without realizing, the norms and standards that are very far from reality and so hard to reach are also one of the reasons. We, as Gen Zs, believe that reaching those standards are so important to avoid backlashes, or worse, cyberbullying, and gain more praise from other people. This results in creating more insecurities about ourselves which shouldn’t be happening. Let’s use our influence in social media to promote self-love, uniqueness, and acceptance. Social media definitely has affected me/us as Gen Z individuals but it molded us into a more mature and responsible user who knows their limitations and worth.

[elaserbo]

“Digital Divide in the New Normal”

The COVID-19 pandemic introduced us into a whole new perspective of life. Our lives took a turn and a ‘new normal’ was implemented that is very different and far from what all of us are used to. The face-to-face way of work, education, and services are now dependent on online space and virtual meets. Now, almost two years into the ‘new normal’ of pandemic life, students are slowly getting adjusted by the way of learning online and passing requirements with the help of their phones and gadgets. We’re accustomed to presenting our phones to the security guards for them to snap a QR code before entering a mall, shop, or any market. Video calls like Zoom and Google Meet have become a standard feature of the workday. For those of us who already regularly shopped, banked, studied, and worked via the Internet, it was easy to adapt to telehealth appointments with doctors and video calls with friends and family. But what about those people who are not privileged enough to own updated and latest gadgets for these kinds of situations? What about those who have slow internet connections that are way worse than we’d ever imagined? What about those who had nothing at all?

The digital divide has brought several challenges in society. And with the occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic, this issue continued to widen than it ever had before, increasing the hardships of many. For students to be able to learn from lessons discussed and for teachers to be able to teach students virtually, technology plays a very important role. Because of the digital divide, especially right now in the new normal, it feels like education is so hard to reach for the students because of the lack of access to the right technology. It is so hard to communicate with teachers and fellow classmates, and difficult to pass homework, activities, and projects. The gap had a big impact on the educational process because some students have access to the latest technology whereas the others who are not fortunate, who are usually in small towns, have to rely on outdated equipment and dial-up modems. Because there are rules we had to follow in terms of the pandemic policy and procedures, sadly, those kinds of students can’t go to cities to have better net connections and some just cannot instantly buy updated/latest phones because of financial problems. It is really challenging for everyone, not just to students, but also to teachers, other employees, and to employers. We just have to be understanding and considerate. No one is to be blamed because this crisis is definitely out of one's control.

[elaserbo]

“Understanding the Relevance of Information and News Literacy in the Midst of Social Era”

Information literacy is a form of literacy that can help you to access reliable source of information and it is the set of skills needed to find, retrieve, analyze and use information, the 21st century has been named "Information Era" one cannot achieve the study target without practicing special information like this in other words this skills empower the people with critical thinking/skills and well help them to become independent life - long learners. Information literacy consists of media with the knowledge, the attitude and the sum of skills needed to know when and what information needed; where and how to obtain that information and how to evaluate it critically and organize it once it is found also how to use it in an ethical way of its information resources are oral, print, and digital.

“News literacy is the acquisition of 21st-century, critical-thinking skills for analyzing and judging the reliability of news and information, differentiating among facts, opinions and assertions in the media we consume, create, and distribute. It can be taught most effectively in cross-curricular, inquiry-based formats at all grade levels. It is a necessary component for literacy in contemporary society.” Sources:[From the Radio Television News Directors Foundation]. Students are bombarded by news in many formats — print media, broadcast media, Internet media, and social media. The volume, velocity, and variety of information are growing exponentially. News literacy skills are essential, students must be able to determine bias or the agenda of the writer. Reading out of their comfort zone will help students see other points of view, and be more tolerant and less emotional when discussing issues. In a democratic society, informed decision-making requires that students develop news literacy skills.

Group 6

[elaserbo]

“Media Evolution and the Changing World”

The media already exists way before we think they were created. Earliest examples of these were the pre-historic cave paintings in 35,000 BC, Papyrus Paper in 2,500 BC, clay tablets in 2,400 BC, Acta Diurna being the world’s first newspaper which appeared in 131 B.C, and many more. Because of the continuous invention, innovation, and researches, the technology is constantly changing to a more advanced and high-tech one. Then periods for media evolution were made to separate and highlight the different medias and technology inventions. When people ages ago needed media to connect with people and spread information much easier, the media today is like a part of our everyday lives. The evolution of media has transformed the way we understand the world around us. In this modern world, media became much more personal and diverse. We are exposed to different viewpoints that may help to shape our understanding of the social world.

The pace of technological change has been rapid and it is accelerating quickly. The media contributed into the process of changing the world into a more modern and advances one. According to a research, the Internet connected together about 50 million devices in 1995. In 2011, the number of connections exceeded 4.3 billion These changes are very noticeable especially when Boomers and Generation X have trouble keeping up with the technologies and social medias that we use every day. We are connected so much with the media, especially our social medias that it can become an addiction if we lost control of ourselves. Within minutes of waking up, most of our hands are itching to reach and fiddle with our phones. Throughout the day, we go on to check them countless times, spending all waking hours with a mobile device nearby. Because of this, information about ourselves and our lives is stored on servers and made searchable by others. Because of how high-tech we are today, almost everything we do can be measured, quantified, and stored. It’s amazing but at the same time terrifying that we can do this now compared to before that was very difficult to access someone’s privacy/information. If we are able to do this now, what more could the future offer?

Group 6

[elaserbo]

“The Value of Being a Media and Information Literate Individual”

Nowadays, media is important now in our daily life, especially to the teenagers like me who use a social media. Media is the best way to spread knowledge, information and news from one part of the world to other. Media educates the people to their basic right and how to use them. It is also a link between the government and people because all the policies and activity of government conveyed through media. It helps to gain our knowledge of what we see in social media, communicate with others like for our family, relatives, and friends and it can be an entertainment also by using social media. And It helps to keep one informed about what is going on in the world to updated in news in our society or in our surroundings and it helps in our studies like research, assignments or experiments but according to Renee Hobbs "few people verify the information they find online ― both adults and children tend to uncritically trust information they find, from whatever source.”

Information is not just something you can show and publicize. It is very important now days that we have a Pandemic. As a media and information literate, educating you’re the people and your community regarding to this matter it would greatly help the people in the net or the netizen. This would help them have an experience on what and how is media and information is being shared not just online but also on hand. To be able to decide on what action to take for a situation, one must be informed and truly understand the dynamics of the situation. Through this one can come up with ideas that are appropriate for a certain situation. For example, with the elections coming up, I can use social media as a platform by sharing factual information of the prospect candidates and this may lead to a healthy debate to discuss ideas. You can contribute through avoiding spreading of fake news. The purpose of being information and media literate is to engage in a digital society; one needs to be able to understand, inquire, create, communicate and think critically and create messages in a variety of forms we need this as individual for us to become competent and ready for future generation we must use social platforms to spread awareness and use it in for the better purpose as saying says "THINK BEFORE U CLICK".

GROUP 6