Waves of Media Education Development: Synchronous and Diachronic Aspects

Abstract

In the context of the increasing influence of the products of the Internet field (social media, blogging) on social everyday life, media education is becoming especially relevant. The symbolic status of the audience is changing, which becomes not only a consumer, but also a producer of media content. The current stage in the development of media communications can be considered unique with some reservations. However, in the history of the XIX–XX centuries, there was a precedent, since in society periodically there were periods of a large-scale surge of interest in media literacy as the main category of media education, depending on a number of socio-cultural factors. This increase in the importance of media literacy is wave-like. The subject of this article is the waves of media education, which are considered from the standpoint of synchronicity and diachrony. A complex of methods is used: historical and cultural analysis; structural analysis; contextual analysis; secondary analysis of sociological and statistical data. Based on the results of the study, it is concluded that the modern media communication conditions in which the “new media” develop are similar to those that were in the formation of the audience of cinema and television. The Internet and, in particular, social media are no less rapidly conquering the audience. At the same time, the modern mediated world requires a high level of media competence and the development of critical thinking from society.