In school, students learn how to apply mathematical logic to evaluate statements and derive conclusions. They are also taught different scientific principles that govern how the world acts and reacts. They learn about various historical figures, wars, and events that shaped our current society. They learn to discuss literary works to understand how humans think. All of these topics are introduced in one way: through media content. Most times, students are taught from textbooks, videos or journals; but how do we know these pieces of media contain objective, unbiased information? How does one news outlet or author have more credibility over the other? These questions can be answered through understanding media literacy.
WHAT IS MEDIA LITERACY?
The National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE) defines media literacy by dissecting the term: “Media refers to all electronic or digital means and print or artistic visuals used to transmit messages. Literacy is the ability to encode and decode symbols and to synthesize and analyze messages. Media literacy is the ability to encode and decode the symbols transmitted via media and synthesize, analyze and produce mediated messages.” [1]
WHY DOES IT MATTER?
We now live in the Information Age, otherwise known as the Digital Age. This is a period where the rapid expansion of information technology and the Internet has fundamentally changed how people access and share information among each other. This period began in the 1960s when the first seeds of the Internet were planted through the establishment of ARPANET. In 1989, the World Wide Web was established, and in the 1990s personal computers started gaining popularity. In the 21st century, the swift development of various smartphones, portable media players, and electronic devices resulted in information becoming more accessible than it has ever been before. Phones became so common, it felt unusual to leave the house without them [2]. However, development of social media in the mid-2000s and 2010s began a whole new tide of information dissemination. Web applications such as MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, and later on, Snapchat and Instagram allowed people to create, curate, and exchange user-generated content [3].
RISE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
The rise of social media was a rapid ascent. In the United States, only 5 percent of American adults used Facebook in 2005. However, that number jumped to 72 percent in 2019 [4]. The true killer when it came to social media however, was yet to rise at this stage: TikTok.
TIKTOK’S ALGORITHM: CONSTANT STREAMS OF INFORMATION
TikTok popularized a different form of dissemination: short-form videos. TikTok’s For You Page (FYP) algorithm, a series of continuous short-form videos, usually ranging from 15 to 60 seconds, took over the market as attention spans became shorter [5]. This strategy helped TikTok flourish, amassing over 1.12 billion active users worldwide since it was launched in 2016. Microsoft, Meta, and Google attempted to copy this new algorithm on their apps, yielding LinkedIn Shorts, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts respectively. This movement towards a continuous stream of videos has exposed the average person to millions of new pieces of information on a daily basis. This is astounding, and the role of user-generated content on social media has produced skepticism surrounding the validity of most of what we see. This problem is perpetuated when the content we are exposed to on social media and elsewhere is not only generated by the user, but also by artificial intelligence [6].
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE HIGHLIGHTS THE FAILURE OF SOCIETY
Once artificial intelligence (AI) tools were introduced in the realm of video and image production, skepticism rose; people began claiming everything was AI. This begs the question: we are so quick to judge what we see once we know AI is involved, but did we ever stop to question whether the information we got from fellow humans was credible at all? The rise of AI put the spotlight on media literacy and it became clear that Gen Z and Gen Alpha had been greatly affected by the Digital Age. Being unable to distinguish AI from reality, not being able to criticize and dissect different forms of media, resorting to humour to placate the feelings of uncertainty, the sheer emotional instability that comes from scrolling from a funny reel to a reel about children dying — it’s quite truly jarring. Emotional desensitization and the inability to judge what is real and to critique what we view in a lens relevant to our lives has forced us to stop thinking about the media content we consume. Instead, we just absorb it, but do we realize how it affects us without noticing? Watching violent interactions between strangers increases our apprehension, viewing a beauty guru promoting her product will entice us to consume more. Media content is necessary to allow us to take action. To learn, we consume media content. To connect, we share media content. To understand, we analyze media content. The benefit of the Information Age is lost when the information we have access to becomes useless to us. If we do not seek to recognize the nuances in the information we absorb and reflect on its effect in our lives, then we fail in taking advantage of the vast data we have access to. Students cannot write essays anymore without AI. People are unmotivated to create since AI can create images and videos for them. The rise of AI did not just cost us our environment, our art, and our expression, it highlighted what we have begun to lack in society from the beginning of the Information Age: media literacy skills. Humans are the only creatures on the planet capable of such high level thinking and abstraction. If we do not think about what we feed our minds, if we do not try to open the doors of our imagination, if we lose the ability to doubt, criticize, and form our own opinions, then haven’t we lost what makes us human? René Descartes said, “I think, therefore I am,” so maybe we truly are not anymore.
References:
[1] “Media Literacy defined,” NAMLE, https://namle.org/resources/media-literacy-defined/ (accessed Feb. 19, 2026).
[2] “Information age (Digital Age): Information Technology: Research Starters: EBSCO research,” EBSCO, https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/information-technology/information-age-digital-age (accessed Feb. 19, 2026).
[3] “Social Media Impact: How Social Media Sites Affect Society,” American Public University, https://www.apu.apus.edu/area-of-study/business-and-management/resources/how-social-media-sites-affect-society/ (accessed Feb. 19, 2026).
[4] 2U WordPress, “The evolution of social media: How did it begin, and where could it go next?,” Maryville University Online, https://online.maryville.edu/blog/evolution-social-media/ (accessed Feb. 19, 2026).
[5] S. Varol, “How short-form videos took over the Digital Content Landscape,” Toluna, https://tolunacorporate.com/how-short-form-videos-took-over-the-digital-content-landscape/ (accessed Feb. 19, 2026).
[6] L. Setyon, “How Tiktok’s rise sparked a short-form video race,” CNBC, https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/26/how-tiktoks-rise-sparked-a-short-form-video-race.html (accessed Feb. 19, 2026).
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