What Is It and Why Does It Matter?

Key Takeaways

• Media literacy helps us make better choices about the media we consume.
• Learning media literacy can reduce the impact of harmful media messages.
• Media literacy teaches us to evaluate media claims, like advertisements, critically.

We live in a world saturated with media of all kinds, from newspapers to radio to television to the internet. How do we understand and evaluate all of these media messages we encounter daily? Well, it’s this neat little skill called media literacy.

Media literacy is the ability to apply critical thinking skills to the messages, signs, and symbols transmitted through mass media. It empowers us to make better choices about what we choose to read, watch, and listen to, and helps us become smarter, more discerning members of society.

Media literacy is seen as an essential 21st-century skill by educators and scholars, including media psychologists. In fact, the mission statement of Division 46 of the American Psychological Association, the Society for Media Psychology and Technology, includes support for the development of media literacy.

Despite this, many people still dismiss media as harmless entertainment and claim they aren’t influenced by its messages. However, research findings consistently demonstrate that people are impacted by the media messages they consume.

Media literacy interventions and education help children and adults recognize the influence media has and give them the knowledge and tools to mitigate its impact.

History of Media Literacy

The earliest attempts at media literacy education are often traced back to the British Film Institute’s push in the late 1920s and early 1930s to teach analytical skills to media users. Around the same time in America, the Wisconsin Association for Better Broadcasters sought to teach citizens to be more critical consumers of media.

However, the goal of these initial media literacy efforts, which continued into the 1960s, was to protect students from media by warning them against its consumption. Despite this perspective, the dominance of media—and television in particular—continued to grow, even as interest in media literacy education waned.

Media Literacy and the Internet

More recently, the advent of the internet and portable technologies that enable us to consume media anywhere and anytime has led to a resurgence in the call for media literacy. Yet the goal is no longer to prevent people from using media, but to help them become more informed, thoughtful media consumers.

Although media literacy education has now become accepted and successful in English-speaking countries including Australia, Canada, and Britain, it has yet to become a standard part of the curriculum in the United States, where a lack of centralization has led to a scattershot approach to teaching practical media literacy skills.

Impact of Media Literacy

Despite America’s lack of a standardized media literacy curriculum, study after study has shown the value of teaching people of all ages media literacy skills.

For example, a review of the research on media literacy education and reduction in racial and ethnic stereotypes found that children as young as 12 can be trained to recognize bias in media depictions of race and ethnicity and understand the harm it can cause.

Though the authors note that this topic is still understudied, they observe that the evidence suggests media literacy education can help adolescents become sensitive to prejudice and learn to appreciate diversity.

Media Literacy Affects Your Sense of Self

Meanwhile, multiple studies have shown that media literacy interventions reduce body dissatisfaction that can be the result of the consumption of media messages.

In one investigation, adolescent girls were shown an intervention video by the Dove Self-Esteem Fund before being shown images of ultra-thin models. While a control group reported lower body satisfaction and body esteem after viewing the images of the models, the group that viewed the intervention first didn’t experience these negative effects.

Studies Show Having Media Literacy Prevents Body Image Issues

Similarly, another study showed college women (who were at high risk for eating disorders) reported less body dissatisfaction, a lower desire to be thin, and reduced internalization of societal beauty standards after participating in a media literacy intervention. The researchers concluded that media literacy training could help prevent eating disorders in high-risk individuals.

How Media Literacy Prevents Misinformation

Moreover, studies have shown that media literacy education can help people better discern the truth of media claims, enabling them to detect “fake news” and make more informed decisions.

For instance, research into young adults’ assessment of the accuracy of claims on controversial public issues was improved if the subjects had been exposed to media literacy education. In addition, another study showed that only people who underwent media literacy training engaged in critical social media posting practices that prevented them from posting false information about the COVID-19 pandemic.

How to Practice Media Literacy

The evidence for the benefits of media literacy suggests it is valuable for people of all ages to learn to be critical media consumers. Media scholar W. James Potter observes that all media messages include four dimensions:

1. Cognitive: the information that is being conveyed
2. Emotional: the underlying feelings that are being expressed
3. Aesthetic: the overall precision and artistry of the message
4. Moral: the values being conveyed through the message

Media psychologist Karen Dill-Shackleford suggests that we can use these four dimensions as a jumping off point to improve our media literacy skills.

Applying Media Literacy in Real-World Situations

Let’s say while streaming videos online we’re exposed to an advertisement for a miracle weight loss drug. In order to better evaluate what the ad is really trying to tell us, we can break it down as follows:

1. On the cognitive dimension we can assess what information the ad is conveying to us by asking some of the following questions: What does the ad promise the drug will do? Does it seem likely the drug can deliver on those promises? Who would need this kind of drug?
2. On the emotional dimension, we can evaluate the feelings the creator of the ad wants us to feel: Do they want us to feel insecure about our weight? Do they want us to imagine the positive ways this drug could change our lives? Do they want us to envision the satisfaction we would feel after the drug delivers its quick fix?
3. On the aesthetic dimension, we can determine how the ad employs messages and images to make us believe the product will deliver on its promises: Does the ad show “before” and “after” images of someone who supposedly took the drug? Does the “before” image look sad and the “after” image happy? Does the ad offer testimonials from people that are identified as experts?
4. On the moral dimension, we can examine what the ad makers wanted to say: Are they equating thinness with happiness? Are they sending the message that it’s a moral failing when someone is overweight? Are they saying that one has to be thin to be loved and respected?

This is one avenue for learning to practice media literacy in everyday life. Remember, the purpose of media literacy isn’t to enjoy media less, it’s to give people the tools to be active media consumers.

Why You Should Practice Media Literacy

Not only will media literacy enable you to detect, analyze, and evaluate negative or false media messages, it will actually enable you to enjoy media more because it puts control over the media back into your hands. And research shows this is likely to increase your health and happiness.

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

1. About the Society for Media Psychology & Technology. Society for Media Psychology & Technology, Division 46 of the American Psychological Association. 2013.

2. Dill-Shackleford KE. How Fantasy Becomes Reality. New York: Oxford University Press; 2009.

3. Arke ET. Media Literacy: History, Progress, and Future Hopes. In: Dill-Shackleford KE, ed. The Oxford Handbook Of Media Psychology. 1st ed. New York: Oxford University Press; 2012. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195398809.013.0006

4. Scharrer E, Ramasubramanian S. Intervening in the Media’s Influence on Stereotypes of Race and Ethnicity: The Role of Media Literacy Education. Journal of Social Issues. 2015;71(1):171-185. doi:10.1111/josi.12103

5. Halliwell E, Easun A, Harcourt D. Body dissatisfaction: Can a short media literacy message reduce negative media exposure effects amongst adolescent girls? Br J Health Psychol. 2011;16(2):396-403. doi:10.1348/135910710×515714

6. Coughlin JW, Kalodner C. Media literacy as a prevention intervention for college women at low- or high-risk for eating disorders. Body Image. 2006;3(1):35-43. doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2006.01.001

7. Kahne J, Bowyer B. Educating for Democracy in a Partisan Age: Confronting the Challenges of Motivated Reasoning and Misinformation. Am Educ Res J. 2016;54(1):3-34. doi:10.3102/0002831216679817

8. Melki J, Tamim H, Hadid D, Makki M, El Amine J, Hitti E. Mitigating infodemics: The relationship between news exposure and trust and belief in COVID-19 fake news and social media spreading. PLoS One. 2021;16(6). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0252830

9. Potter WJ. Media Literacy. 4th ed. Los Angeles: SAGE; 2008.

By Cynthia Vinney, PhD

Cynthia Vinney, PhD is an expert in media psychology and a published scholar whose work has been published in peer-reviewed psychology journals.

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