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Media Literacy and Instagram: The Rise of Mindless Scrolling, Personalization and Fake News
Mindless Scrolling and Making Meaning of Content
Media literacy is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and create media in various forms. Baran (2022) states that media literacy is in part, "the ability and willingness to make an effort to understand content, to pay attention, and to filter out noise" (Baran p. 22-23). In the age of social media, media literacy has become increasingly important as people consume large amounts of content online. Instagram, as a popular social media platform, offers a massive amount of visual content for consumers to consume. However, the constant stream of images can lead to mindless scrolling, where users are simply swiping through without much thought or consideration.
Media literacy is crucial for combating mindless scrolling and making meaning of what you see on Instagram. By developing media literacy skills, users can become more discerning consumers of content and more effective creators of their own content. It is important for individuals to take the time to critically evaluate the content they consume on social media platforms like Instagram, and use these platforms in a way that supports their personal growth and development.
Recognizing and Making Sense of Personalized Content
With the rise of personalized media content such as "for you" features and the ability to choose who one follows on mediums such as Instagram, it becomes more and more important for users to understand the media they consume, and its calculated personalization. As discussed in the previous section, important criteria for effective media literacy include the ability to understand, comprehend, evaluate and analyze the media and media practitioners obligations. There are many ways to understand what these terms mean, including the ability to understand that the content one interacts with on Instagram is carefully curated not only by the user, but the corporation as well. This personalization of content is important to recognize because it can prohibit media literacy if not taken into account. Instagram and many other social media platforms are making the switch to personalized news and advertisements. Although this may seem more convenient for the user, media literacy may be challenged as a result.
Instagram allows users to select who and what they follow while also curating personalized "explore" and "for you" pages; creating the ultimate platform of sheer personalization. This completely narrows down the content users interact with to be specialized to their interests and beliefs. Personalized news is an excellent example of potential media literacy issues. If a user only follows one news account that represents a certain political affiliation or side, they may not be able to fully understand the whole issue being discussed, as it is personal to what they "want to hear." This may mean that they aren't able to objectively analyze the content they interact with and/or are getting information from an illegitimate source. If a user is aware that platforms such as Instagram highlight the idea of the media as being a "selective mirror of society," then they would be more likely to understand and evaluate the content they come across. A user who doesn't understand this personalization may be unable to effectively comprehend the materials. "Selective mirror of society" refers to the idea that the media are only a partial mirror of society due to under or over coverage of certain groups/topics and personalization (Baran, 2022). This is not only related to news, but advertisements as well. Instagram is a platform that uses media systems to track and personalize all information a user sees which would include posts and advertisements of interest and cloud users’ view of a realistic and comprehensive society.
Identifying Fake News
Along with mindless scrolling and personalized content, fake news can easily become a trap for users with a lower degree of media literacy. Media literacy requires users to think critically about the media that they consume and allows them to better understand how media affects their lives and the world around them. Media literacy can also provide the skills necessary for users to identify both accurate and false media information.
Fake news has become an obstacle for users who seek accurate information on major news topics, specifically politics and other controversial topics under debate such as the pandemic, war and protests. Practicing media literacy can help users ignore fake news posts or links on Instagram by allowing them to easily recognize the key indicators that will expose an article or claim it as fake news. Some indicators are more obvious than others, like all capital lettering (especially with the rise of "clickbait" on Instagram) or articles without quotes or citation, but other red flags require media literacy to uncover. Media literacy requires users to think critically about all media messages despite their credibility. This explains why media-literate users may go a step beyond in identifying fake news. Users inexperienced in media literacy may not think to question the source of their information, but media literate users know the importance of having high expectations for their media outlets. Identifying the publisher or author's credibility, or the credibility of their sources, is the most straightforward way to identify fake news.
media. The hostile media effect and the confirmation bias are two theories that play role in the discussion of fake news. These ideas essentially state that users believe news to be in favor of the opposing side of our beliefs and that users accept information in line with their beliefs as true and those that aren't as incorrect (Baran, 2022). The confirmation bias causes users to immediately dismiss articles or information that does not coincide with their existing beliefs or knowledge. Media literate users can remain conscious of this when consuming media, which allows them to asses information from various sources without the automatic emotion and skepticism.
Ultimately, media literacy is crucial in identifying fake news. Taking certain headlines, links, captions or articles at face value without further investigation is not only irresponsible of the user, but it can even become harmful to their well-being in the long run. Practicing media literacy is incredibly important as it allows users to get the most out of their media consumption.
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