In the transition from traditional print to the digital landscape, the nature of how we consume information has changed. For decades, we acted as passive consumers of “solidified” text, but as Elianna Bravo highlights in her exploration of New Media and Literacy, we have entered an era of interactivity. This new digital landscape is a “dual edged sword”. It requires a deeper understanding of digital rhetoric.
The Literacy Gap
In a viral video by Caroline Cianci, we see a jarring example of the “dual edged sword” Bravo describes. In the video, a young woman uses “Gen Z” slang, much of which is appropriated from AAVE, to communicate.
Because she lacks the deeper digital literacy to understand the nuances of the language, she constantly uses the terms inappropriately. She finds herself barely able to compete a sentence nor connect during the interaction. This highlights a key danger of new media. While we can access and reproduce content easily, without critical analysis, its meaning loosing value as a way to communicate and connect authentically. As Bravo suggests, having the tools to “compose” doesn’t mean we’re truly literate if we’re just mimicking the pre-programmed algorithm.
Bravo defines modern literacy not just as reading and writing. Instead she argues its the ability to navigate, analyze, and compose text using multimedia tools. As noted by Richard Lanham, the reader has now become the writer. Even just stitching a TikTok video, allows active participation in the creation of a works meaning.
On social media, we aren’t looking at static images, but instead interacting with a collection of units. This can range from captions to tags and audio. The entirety of the post is the art, not just the image. These units help us connect with people ranging from our neighbors to strangers on the other side of the globe. The question is, can we ever break the matrix ?
Digital Data Harvesting
Bravo argues that our digital agency is instead harvested as data. She writes, “every click, like, dislike, or share you make through new media becomes a part of your digital agency stored up and used against you.” Studies have labeled apps like Instagram as the ‘most invasive’ due to sharing 79% of its users personal data with third parties.
Breaking the Matrix
Without high level digital literacy, we risk becoming pawns in the game of manipulation. As for whether we can truly break the matrix, I believe we must transition from being users to critical thinkers. Only when we understand how these platforms influence our identities will we ever break free.
Leave a Reply