People, Connected

Communication; it’s such a wide range subject which can have so many different meanings. Sometimes people’s wavelengths and understandings just don’t align, leading to unnecessary issues. However, those miscommunications can lead to more than just confusion, but outcomes that affect one’s life trajectory as a whole

In class, we learned about how messages are encoded with meaning by the speaker, and the recipient of that message will decode their message based upon their characteristics, values, and morals. Oppositional decoding is when the recipient completely counters the author or speaker’s original intention for the message; this is what can cause sometimes fatal miscommunication and demise to relationships just because there was an absence of clarity and understanding. It’s sad to think that so much could be avoided if we simply all used our words and really tried to understand one another’s perspective; maybe there wouldn’t be as much conflict or tension in the world. 

On that note, it’s so much easier to be confused on what’s going on in the world nowadays with the rise of social media; every app such as Instagram or Tiktok is incredibly accessible for just about anyone to view and/or post about world events. This form of news is creeping up on broadcast journalism, in that the fastest way to discover breaking news used to be live news coverage on TV, but now we see how all of that is changing with the click of a button, instantaneously spreading information around the world. This is when that word we hear so often comes into play; overconsumption. Today, the web has expanded into to the infinite melting pot of culture, art, technology, and everything else you can see in a matter of seconds when scrolling through your for-you-page. 

This is one of the main reasons why media literacy is so vital for this generation and all the future generations to come so we are able to distinguish what is valuable and what is digital junk. Not only does media literacy play a big role in the de-pollution of misinformation, but it’s important to remain accurate and truthful when contributing information or spreading awareness within the public sphere so that we don’t contribute to the propaganda. The public sphere, as daunting as that name sounds, is really just a name for the imaginary “place” that we participate in civically, whether it be in person, online, you name it. “Civic” is the idea that people must engage in our society in order to make positive change for the community and strengthen our democracy. In one of our readings earlier this week, “New Media, New Civics?” by Ethan Zuckerman (2014), we discussed civic engagement in the lens of “thin” and “thick” participation. Zuckerman explains how this can be a way to categorize civic engagement in more simple terms of understanding, with thin participation being more simple actions including signing petitions or changing one’s profile photo, and thick being deeper involvement in one’s community which requires more time and effort. Although the latter is commonly more impactful, Zuckerman agrees that both are valuable methods of civic engagement, and digital media can be beneficial in combining traditional civic engagement with online promotion. 

All this to say, I’ve definitely learned a lot this past week and this class is allowing me to search for answers in ways I never have before. I can’t wait to learn more in the coming weeks that I’ll be at AYA.