Abstract
Younger students live in a media-centric world. Researchers have shown that youth today spend more time watching television and movies than most any other leisure-time activity (Pearl, 1982). In addition, the presentation speed of passages on commercial television has increased significantly in the past 50 years (Stephens, 1996). Researchers have shown that viewers automatically learn to cope with symbolic presentation methods through repeated exposure to television and visual patterns (Abelman, 1995; Bargh, 1998; Carr, 1982). Because of their increased exposure to rapid sequence and presentation speed brought on by fast-cuts/montage found in television programs aimed at youth, it may also be assumed that these individuals can comprehend these messages on a much wider scale than can their adult counterparts. One cannot assume that exposure to rapid presentation speed is simply a passive viewing activity. Further, not only are these advancements in media technology changing the way viewers look at and interpret video media, but most importantly, the widespread availability of production techniques provide easy access to capabilities that allow people to use video media to easily create their own content. It has been widely shown fashion (Tyner, 1998) that these acquisition/production opportunities also increase exponentially one's ability to comprehend content delivered in like. Media educators and theorists for years have been analyzing Marshall McLuhan's famous quip, "the medium is the message." In some regard, McLuhan's statement may be a retort to later critics of educational media like Richard Clark (1983) who claimed that media are "mere vehicles that deliver instruction but do not influence achievement any more than the truck that delivers groceries causes changes in nutrition" (p.445). Further, communications theorists like Walter Ong (1982) not only agreed with McLuhan, but extended the meaning of McLuhan's message to also imply that the types of media people use define the way they think. Ong's notions bring to mind possible questions as to whether today's mediacentric youth perhaps think differently than previous generations, with implications as to the kinds of instructional strategies that will be successful in motivating them to learn and providing perceptual stimuli for recognition and recall. (Contains 68 references.) (Author/AEF)