I like this quote from one of the media literacy pages I found last night:

It is estimated that North American children spend twice as much time over the course of a year watching television as they do in school. A recent study found that U.S. children spend over four and a half hours a day using television, computers and video games. As media saturate our lives, it is vital that children learn to decode messages and images, to ask critical questions about who is creating them and for what purpose. Media literacy is fundamental in helping young people to become informed citizens who can actively and successfully communicate with society and the world.

Shit, I think this is a gigantic thing that is missing in our collective conscious right now. I mean, its not just kids that need to learn this kinda shit. I’m gonna read more about just how these sites advocate teaching these skills to kids, and see if I can’t adapt some of them for all the numbskull adults I come across.