BLOG.
(DRAFT)
DATE: 09/05/20
STARTED: 20:40
ENDED: 00:02
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“Media controls you more than what you think.”
That’s what I’ve realized this year and I’m not taking back those words. Now, what exactly did I
mean by that? How did I arrive at that statement? But first, let me throw you this question. Do
you really think you have your own opinion over things or media controls you to have those
opinions? Pardon if it sounds vague, I couldn’t translate my thoughts well into words. Does it
made sense? No?
Let me tell you my journey as someone who’s been exposed to media for years. Ever since I was
a kid, I love reading any print media, magazines and newspapers, to be specific. Also, I was a
television addict back then, watching from morning until the broadcast stations bid their farewell
around 1AM. Then later on, I got a mobile phone and instantly became addicted to it. As using
this gadget for social interaction, I saw a pattern of words people associate with me for the first
time. Or even several of the strangers I passed by spit out these words.
Terrorism.
Bombing.
Illiterate.
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It was stuck up on my mind for a while. It’s not that I was offended as a Muslim woman; that’s
not our subject. I just wondered how did these people have this preconceived ideas to myself and
that took me back on my memories of watching the television, reading the newspapers, and my
newsfeed on social media. Most of them portray my religion as a villain and it creates fear for
people and eventually, a prejudice was developed. Same thing happens to the propagandas and
how does it brainwash people’s opinions. With that being said, it’s really important to educate
ourselves on how to use the media properly especially we’re inhabitants of the digital world.
This year, I tried a little experiment for myself. And that’s to detach myself to social media and
don’t watch the news as often as I did before, and see if I could make a rational opinion without
much of an influence by media by the time I came back. To be clear, the experiment (if you can
count it as one) was not my primary intention, it’s just that the social media’s toxicity affected
me for a long time and I need to take a break from it for my mental health, more importantly
during the depressing time of the pandemic.
Fast forward to the opening of this school year, I opened my social media accounts again and I
was utterly overwhelmed by the amount of news and information I had to absorb. But I guess it
turned out fine for me; my opinions over things are pretty neutral than what I’ve expected. Then,
a new chapter awaits for me and that’s taking Media and Information Literacy as a subject in the
first cluster. By the word itself, I expected this subject to take me a journey of education about
media; know deeper how media is actually intertwined with our lives and learn how to use or
assess any information in a wise way.
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It’s only been a few weeks since we started this class and I learned so many things already. I
learned new terms related to the subject, The Models of Communication, Evolution of Media and
more to come in the future. Not to mention we do tongue twister as well to improve our
enunciation and it adds spontaneity to our lessons. I honestly thought I won’t be able to learn on
online classes but with the help of our teacher, Mr. Rick Campana, he made the class
environment comfortable and made sure everyone understand through oral recitations. Although
it’s such a shame that I usually get out from Zoom during classes due to unstable internet
connection, but that doesn’t hinder me to learn and have fun in class.