Notes on Media Literacy and Parental Mediation Theory

Definition: Extension of cultivation theory that states message consumption cultivates or creates a worldview. Although this worldview may be inaccurate, it becomes a reality because people believe it to be so, specifically in relation to content genres.

Definition: The ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and communicate messages.

Purpose: Attempts to reduce harmful effects of the media by informing the audience about one or more aspects of those media.

Definition: Theory focusing on active parental involvement in the full array of children's media experiences.

Active Mediation
- Definition: Involves discussing television content with children as a parental mediation strategy.
Restrictive Mediation
- Definition: Setting rules and limits on children’s television consumption as a parental strategy.
Co-Viewing
- Definition: Involves parents watching television with children, facilitating discussion and engagement as a parental strategy.
Participatory Learning
- Definition: Engagement of both children and parents together in new media activities as a parental mediation strategy.
Gatekeeping Activities
- Definition: Various actions that parents take to regulate their children's exposure to technology as a parental mediation strategy.
Discursive Activities
- Definition: Involves having conversations between parents and children about the technologies, their content, and the associated dangers and benefits.
Investigative Activities
- Definition: Information-seeking and skill acquisition activities that parents undertake in order to better mediate their children's media engagements.
Diversionary Activities
- Definition: Parents' intentional efforts to steer children away from media technologies as a parental mediation strategy.
Enabling Mediation
- Definition: A parental mediation strategy that is based on the children’s level of internet-use skill, designed to maximize opportunities and minimize risks.

Definition: The empowerment of news consumers to seek useful and accurate information, enabling informed decisions related to the political, social, and cultural structures of society.

Definition: Pedagogic strategies aimed at helping media consumers identify resources for resistance within themselves and their immediate media environments.

Definition: The tendency to accept information that confirms one's beliefs and to dismiss information that does not.

These theories emphasize the importance of active parental engagement in children's media consumption and the need for media literacy education to equip consumers with the skills necessary to navigate the media landscape effectively and critically.