By Ella French
Now that I am a senior in high school, I wish that I had known certain information about the internet, media, and social media, that I want to share with you. I first wanted to touch on fake news and misinformation. Fake news and misinformation are very common in our world today and it will be very good to teach you how to tell if something is false news and how to avoid it. One key way to tell if the news being given is fake is by detecting the source of the news. Some examples of credible news sources that will not have fake news include The New York Times, The Washington Post, BBC, The New Yorker, and more. Another way to tell if the news is fake is through what sources are mentioned within the news article itself. If the sources tied to the evidence are unreliable, the information within the article is as well. Fake news is very harmful because it can cause huge misunderstandings on very important topics, can shade people from seeing the truth, be harmful to your health and cause a mass belief in something that has no truth to it. According to an article we read in class from Inc.com, you can help avoid fake news by, “When your children cite information they see online, ask them to examine the source of that information, even if it means tracing it back. Help them learn the difference between a legitimate source and one that is more questionable. As they get older, walk your children through verifying sources of research studies and ensuring the sample size is large enough for the information to be valid.” With the use of these methods, you will be able to successfully detect and avoid fake news. Another topic that I wanted to give you advice on is the fact that negative and “bad” news spreads way more than positive and “good news.” Negative news spreads more than positive news because the more negative the news is, the more emotions come out of it, causing more shares and publicity towards it. More negative news builds more emotions that cause it to become a bigger story. According to an article from class to avoid the support of spreading negative news and misinformation, “Either it can hire an editorial team to track and remove blatant misinformation from trending searches, or it can introduce a new reporting feature for users to flag misinformation as they come across it.” When you don't spread the misinformation or negative news, you can help cause it to go away. Each and every day we are manipulated by bias in the media. Bias in the media can cause our perspectives and opinions to be lost due to how frequently bias is shown. One example of bias is biased by omission which causes us to only see one side of a story and try to manipulate us into only believing that one side is right. According to an article from Inc.com, “Overall, media outlets should not be one-sided in reporting on any issue. They should always try to cover several points of view around an issue. If one side refuses to participate, the outlet should mention that it at least attempted to get a statement. “Which shows this form of bias is commonly used. Another form of bias called a selection of sources causes us to only get sources from a specific viewpoint not showing us both opinions on a topic. According to the Social Dilemma can avoid being manipulated by social media, “Another great method to avoid social media manipulation is to avoid clicking on ads whenever possible. “ Avoiding clicking ads will prevent you from being manipulated into buying something that you do not want. Also, “When you like and share content that is ethical, tolerant and generally good spirited, you influence social media to value these things more as well.” To avoid manipulation, don't feed into the spread. In conclusion, when it comes to avoiding manipulation, biased news, and fake news on social media, you can do 3 things. Avoid spreading and sharing false or negative news, always check the source, and don't fall into the trap of manipulation. I wish you the best on your social media journey!
1 Comment
Lynn Girven
4/24/2022 05:00:45 am
Well done, Ella. As Social Studies teachers we often use articles with two points of view or Claim/Counter claim essays. However your article makes me think that perhaps we should start with current events so that is more interesting to students. Thank you!
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