The Media and Me: A Guide to Critical Media Literacy for Young People

by Ben Boyington, Allison T. Butler, Nolan Higdon

From foundations in critical thinking skills to practical tools and real-life perspectives, this book empowers young adult readers to be independent media users.

During the recent presidential election, “media literacy” became a buzzword that signified the threat media manipulation posed to democratic processes. Meanwhile, statistical research has shown that 8 to 18 year-olds pack more than eleven hours with some form of media into each day by “media multitasking.” Young people are not only eager and interested to learn about and discuss the realities of media ownership, production, and distribution, they also deserve to understand differential power structures in how media influences our culture.

The Media and Me provides readers with the tools and perspectives to be empowered and autonomous media users. The book explores critical inquiry skills to help young people form a multidimensional comprehension of what they read and watch, opportunities to see others like them making change, and insight into their own identity projects. By covering topics like storytelling, building arguments and recognizing fallacies, surveillance and digital gatekeeping, advertising and consumerism, and global social problems through a critical media literacy lens, this book will help students evolve from passive consumers of media to engaged critics and creators.

The Media and Me is a joint production of The Censored Press and Triangle Square Books for Young Readers.

Genres: Nonfiction, Education

272 pages, Paperback

Published December 27, 2022

Reviews

[linsie thielke]

had to read this for school but I actually thought some parts were interesting. it sparked good conversation about media and representation and consumption. would actually recommend

[BiblioBrandie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book from the publishers just as I was starting a class called "Empowering Responsible Learners Through Media Literacy," (awesome class on the Teaching Channel, btw) so it was perfect timing. I learned so much reading these pages and hope that students will pick it up. Highly recommended for high school students, middle-school students who are interested in the topic, and all educators.

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Giving students a groundwork for understanding the under-pinnings of media and how to be a consumer of media is important in today's world. As a parent and educator, I have felt that approaching this subject deliberately and intentionally would be a benefit for students. With that in mind, I am presently preparing to teach a 'Media Literacy' course to a group of teens, so I've been compiling relevant texts to use.

I found 'The Media and Me: A Guide to Critical Media Literacy for Young People' to be relevant to the modern media landscape. It touches on a broad scope of topics in an approachable way that high schoolers would be able to understand. There are a total of eight chapters that are approx. 20 pages long. Many of the chapters included suggested activities and additional resources.
The topics include:
- defining media and what is behind it
- common fallacies and making strong arguments, inferences, cognitive biases and their effects
- stereotypes and representation
- different kinds of literacy
- advertising and consumerism
- the roll of the press and journalism
- resource guide and glossary


There were a few places in the book that seemed to get into the weeds politically and the information and examples used felt slanted in one particular direction. While the book notes that there were ten authors collaborating to write this book. It seemed to me that the group of authors had a similar set of biases that came through strongly, and made any claim of 'impartiality' false. By not including some of these views and examples, I think the book would have been better balanced and perhaps felt like it had less of an agenda. This would make it a more appropriate textbook for my needs. With that being said, I plan to use a broad range of texts as we explore this subject and I see value in having it as part of the list of resources I will use.

[Doni · Rating 2 out of 5]

How to win the war on truth was way better!

[Ryan Hyatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

We can tell time, but do we know how a clock works?

With underpinnings in psychology and literacy, this book serves as a helpful guide for youth to become savvier digital citizens who are better able to “analyze claims, see through manipulation, and recognize when political or economic interests drive the media” they use.

Like breaking down the inner workings of a clock, the authors do an excellent job of taking young readers through the basics of media awareness, critical thinking, power dynamics and representation as they relate to advertising, consumerism, journalism, free speech and social responsibility.

The result is a robust introduction on current media issues for those making their way into the digital world. A highly recommended reference for high school-age educators and students.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this one to prep for a meeting at my job for covering media literacy and fake news with the students there. And it's fine. Not much here I don't think I already knew, and one page ended mid-sentence, but the next page started a new paragraph, which is odd to say the least.

[Claire · Rating 2 out of 5]

The layout of this book was really great for learning purposes. There’s a glossary at the back of the text & each chapter is divided into easily readable sections with headings. This book discusses how to critically analyze the media we consume and form a deeper understanding of the media.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Belongs in every high school classroom no matter the subject. Real world examples are provided up to the beginning of the Biden presidency so relatively current.

[Bethany Svoboda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I could not bring myself to finish this book. I made it 40% of the way and lost interest.

[Megan Eliason · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Our attention is stolen.” “What is the positive value?” Stimulates thought process not just for the younger generation(s), but all that are surrounded/saturated by media…who’s not?

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Media and Me: A Guide to Critical Media Literacy 'For Young People' is a dense, useful guide to its subject matter -- though the idea of children picking this up and reading it is almost laughable. With something like 80 terms introduced per chapter of watered-down academic-speak, and about a dozen mostly-pointless illustrations, calling this "For Young People" (by which they seem to mean children) is a major stretch. In fact, I know zero teenagers who would pick this up and read it, though I'm sure there are a handful out there. To continue some quibbling, there is a massive editing error on page 27 where it just trails off and the following page was perhaps never-printed, and the authors (hypocritically [due to the severity evident, not the fact of]) strongly show their own bias on page 90, criticizing a Nicki Minaj Tweet where she states she would get vaccinated after she had done enough research (it's OK to be critical unless it's reasonably-questioning the government/pharma around COVID that is...).

All that said, as an educational resource for older folks, this is a treasure trove of information on many things Information Literacy, and Critical Media Literacy. The book's ten different authors from different realms make for a well-rounded panel of experts laying bare most of the relevant discussion around, for example, media ethics, advertising, journalism as it relates to the average reader, fake news, and so forth. With caveats in mind, I definitely recommend this book.

4.1 Stars