Post: New, Fun Site Gets Girls to Think About Media Messages
New, Fun Site Gets Girls to Think About Media Messages
Millions of teenage and tween girls spend a significant chunk of their time surfing the Internet, watching MTV, thumbing through teen and celebrity magazines, and listening to CDs by their newest favorite recording stars.
While they may view it as "entertainment," the flood of imagery delivered via online media, television, magazines, and popular music is also subtly shaping young girls' social and emotional development, along with their perceptions of body image and health.
That's why we're so excited about a new Web site created by a team of researchers at the Media Education Lab of Temple University’s School of Communications and Theater. My Pop Studio is believed to be the first Web site of its kind to use online games to teach media literacy.
“My Pop Studio aims to re-frame popular culture in ways that can be powerful for girls,” said Renee Hobbs, director of the Media Education Lab and associate professor of communication at Temple. “Weaving an educational component into the pop entertainment culture they consume gives them the opportunity to feel the power of making creative choices and to recognize that those choices have consequences."
"On a deeper level, they will be equipped with the tools of media literacy and an understanding that ‘stuff doesn’t just appear on the TV screen.’ There has been conscious, calculated construction of the media messages that are constantly delivered to them.”
We also believe in raising a generation of media-savvy kids who control their media worlds -- not the other way around. Help your kids look more deeply into the media world they love by using some of the ideas below from My Pop Studio.