The Power of Media and Information, and the Responsibility of Users

To uphold the power of media and information is to have responsibility.

Media and information has shaped the world and the society for years. It has, for better and worse, changed the people’s lifestyles, progress of business, economy, and even the environment. The impact of media and information is evident in communication and flow of information. With media, information is readily accessible to its users. With information, the users utilize it to make it useful. This power can do small and big impacts to the world.

But having power means having responsibility. Responsibility requires acknowledging what the consequences will be, and knowing that the person has a role to play. Thus, it is a must that the users of media and information are responsible.

One of the many ways to be a responsible user is to know what is right to do with information. Lately, wrong pieces of information or fake news have been circulating the media. This situation implies that most of the users of media are not responsible with information. Users have the power to contribute information using media, and they have the responsibility to this information. To solve this problem, users should report all the wrong information and must exercise truthful action using truthful information.

Another way to be a responsible user is to know one’s limitations to using of information. The lack of this responsibility results to phishing, scamming, and hacking. To resolve these issues, one must secure his/her information, especially personal information such as address, password, and credit card number. The users should also avoid stealing information or plagiarism. It is important to highlight that the users of media and information are humans and therefore, have identities to protect and rights to uphold.

Lastly, to be a responsible user is to do ethical and morally right actions. The lack of this responsibility results to human trafficking, cyber bullying, identity theft, character assassination, and child pornography. These ethical values should be taught and known to users before even using media and information. To resolve these issues, there must be a meaningful law or action that will surely reduce the number of these crimes. Moreover, netizens should not be blind with these issues, they should report immediately if they felt bullied and harassed.

To summarize, the users of media and information must be responsible with their actions and decisions because the lack of responsibility leads to issues such as fake news, phishing, and human trafficking. To be a responsible user of media and information, one must know what is right to do with information, know one’s limitations to using of information, and to do ethical and morally right actions.

The key to be a responsible user is to apply all of these in real life. Remember, with great power comes with great responsibility.