LOCKED OUT OF MEDIA IN THE DIGITAL WORLD

By: Mary Hijastro

The existence of media in this world is one of the most desired and favorable source for information.
Considering that media plays a big role to the society as it gives opportunities to the youth to voice out their
formulated opinions and ideas that anyone can benefit in. Media going through the world of technology opens
up doors for this people to encounter variety of applications or devices used to see, view and gather
information. Thou, media becomes a part of any individual’s lifestyle, as they daily encounter various of
information or news that is scattered along the internet, that may partly affect them mentally, socially or
emotionally, especially the young ones as they are more engaged or inclined to the use of social media. Media
on digital devices leveled up its features as it became an easier process of getting information, but the problem
is, do all information on media is reliable for the benefit of all?

Media is not what it seems to be that easily to take in to our minds. It requires steps or considerations
before citing any sources with information to avoid being a victim of “fake news”. The youth nowadays are
said to be the "GENERATION Z" or what we call the "the start of the birth of technology" where in in the
year 1990's-2000's starting birth are the ones who are most inclined to the use of media through technology,
and since the youth, as an observation, are primarily focused in the use of digital devices, the negative impact
of this is that they are slowly becoming close-minded, especially to the information that they received or get,
they locked themselves up to the inside world of media in digital devices in a way that they don’t practice the
art of reality, where in they should always rely on the truth, not on information that is not proven by officials.
And according to ABS-CBN News, Filipinos are topped in the most frequent in social media use
worldwide, where in Filipinos were said to be one of the highest ratings in social media use worldwide, so the
higher the use of these social media platforms, the higher the probability that these Filipino youths are more
engaged in reading information through the internet. The effect of this to the Filipino youth is not optimistic,
since Filipinos are one of the top users of internet in the whole world, they are most likely inclined to using
digital devices to search news and information, they will most likely be becoming more and more attached to it,
being addicted to it, being brainwashed of it, being lied of, being anti-social and being blinded of the true reality
happening. The Filipino youth who uses gadgets for the sake of media, can affect their behavior or
attitude depends on how bad it influences them from that particular information. One example is the issue
about "cyber bullying", many users are used to spread and gossip fake information by making fun of others,
especially in Facebook, where in one or many can read it and might believe in it, that is the starting point where
in the readers have this behavior of believing in it quickly and has the manner of spreading it to others through
the use of messaging, and for that victim, he/she might lead to mental problems, as he/she is said to be cyber
bullied. Filipino youth, on some occasions, are most likely to be an active user in any social media platforms, as
they just have that manner of sharing personal information to the public without even considering the sites that
don't have any privacy policies that discloses their information, so that people can't view it. The Filipino youth
being like "prisoners" are locked from their mentality or mindset of letting themselves inside of the jail
of the negative side of media, they lost the opportunity of opening up the door to view the positive side of
media, which is the truth, where in fake news are ignored and positivity is spread.

As a media user, we should always be open minded and choose not to rely on what we encounter on
media nowadays, because there are so many people or pages posting fake news. Let us be open and avoid
locking ourselves in media in a way that our life evolves in the digital world, because after all, we live in a reality
that the truth will always rise up. We should learn to be a critical thinker in evaluating and analyzing
information from credible and reliable sources for us to view information that are legit and true. As an
individual, we should also give back and share our thoughts or opinions that are based from what we perceive
in a right way, not just in a way that someone will get affected because of sharing information about someone
or something that is not even true. Let us be one of the people who are educated, knowledgeable and well-
informed in checking out information on which is true or which is fake to avoid misunderstanding. As a fellow
Filipino youth, let us be in the world of being respectful, intellectual and a wise user through the use of
media platforms in the use of technology, in this world full of toxicity, fabricated information and the trashy
mindset of an individual who are mostly in favor of being and staying in the negative side of media that any
people shouldn't be.