Girls from the U4th presented us with an interesting question in this morning’s assembly: how much influence does the media have on our lives?
The answer is a HUGE amount. The average person is exposed to over forty thousand adverts on TV every year, and those that don’t watch TV are not immune either. Just think of your daily journey into school, whether you’re walking, on the bus or in the car, and you will be exposed to everything from billboards, to adverts at the bus stop, to those inane radio jingles that heard just once are lodged in your brain and just won’t GO AWAY (Does the phrase ‘Go compare’ ring any bells?)!
This is not to say that the overabundance of information is necessarily a bad thing. It was not so long ago that breaking news was only available first thing in the morning papers or on the daily news broadcasts. Now with 24 hour rolling news as well as the vast expanse that is social media we can get information 24 hours a day at the click of a button. Many of us have found out about important international news events that are shaping our future via social media networks such as Twitter or Facebook.
We are privileged that we have such quick access to information, but we must recognise that not all material that is published online can necessarily be trusted. Wikipedia is an example of a resource that many of us use regularly without knowing if the information it gives us is reliable. Anyone can upload on to Wikipedia and the so called ‘facts’ are often unverified.
24 hour access to information is an incredible thing but we still need to use our intellectual sensibilities and make sure we engage with what we read in order to ensure we know the truth.
Looking forward to Friday’s assembly girls!
