We Are in the Age of Digital Disinformation

So, I picked up a copy of the magazine Scientific American. After flipping through the pages and actually reading the articles written in this month's edition, I was very intrigued by one article in particular. That's not true, the article I read, about salamanders was intriguing. The article talks about how a certain type of salamander can do crazy things like regrow half their brain if you remove it. Imagine if we studied salamanders, figured out how to do just that, and regrow all our organs and body parts. That would be a cool time to be alive, wouldn't you say? We aren't too far from the age of regrowing your penis in a lab, but not enough people are talking about the age we are currently living in. The age where information is spread so easily, with so much information being transmitted instantly versus watching the evening news to find out what is going on in the world. Just use your phone dude. People do just that, they use their phone and with it they view endless sources of news. I guarantee you, the material they think is news, has some flaws to it. Certain news sources, when they say something, we just take it, often times no questions asked. Sometimes, what the news is telling you is accurate, and you don't need to spend your time looking into it because you take the media outlets word for it. This can be a problem where you become bias, and in the event that the news outlet relays misinformation by mistake, then the news story is inaccurate. It can be hard to spot when we should be questioning the authenticity of the news, we received, no matter the source. It is also equally important to understand the difference between misinformation and disinformation.

Mistakes happen as we are only human, right? When an honest mistake happens and someone relays breaking news where they may not have all the right details, this is misinformation. It happens. You should know that there are people out there who thrive from intentionally steering someone wrong by spreading disinformation. The internet is full of both misinformation and disinformation. Think about the younger generation for a split second. Kids today are already vulnerable to whatever you may tell them, there are even more vulnerable to the bullshit they read online. If some knucklehead creates a meme or maybe they spread disinformation by a simple tweet, how do you teach everyone not to believe what you read online. Look, I know. There is a lot of good, valuable information online. I mean I would never have gotten through high school if it wasn't for the internet. What, you want me to read a book? An actual book?! Not happening. Oh, how things have changed. Now I love reading! The point is, the February edition of Scientific American has a really good article I read, written by Melinda Wenner Moyer titled Schooled In Lies.

It is here that I read, once kids hit the age of 14, they start believing in conspiracies that are truly whacky. Maybe puberty has something to do with it, I'm not sure. Not only do you get some peach fuzz on your face, but you also start believing that the ancient Mayans invented cell phones or some shit like that. There is no denying that kids today are way too attached to their phones. Adults too, I am not going to leave the adults out of this but I think it's safe to say that a majority of teenagers get their news headlines from social media and/or memes. I am not saying this is a bad thing, I guess. As long as the information is accurate and takes in consideration both sides of the story, what's the worst thing that can happen if they get their information through memes? Well, you see that's where the problem lies. There is an impossible number of "facts" that people have read online, where they truly believe its the truth, and they tell their friends. That friend tells another person and that person shares it with multiple people and the spread is never ending all while the information they are spreading is wrong. This scenario happens all the time. Take the flat Earthers for example. I thought it was just an internet troll. People can not be serious with this flat Earth thing right? Oh yes they can. Them and the people who think space is fake, I just really feel sorry for them. To live your life like everything is some grand conspiracy, is no way to live. The paranoia will eat you alive. Trust me.

So what can we do for these vulnerable children when it comes to the spread of disinformation? This all starts while they are young. Developing an academic system that teaches kids to question the reliability of information is a good thing. You teach these kids to look for things like satire, I've seen disinformation where it's a funny joke, but people take it as "news". When you get information from an unlikely source, this does not immediately mean their input is wrong, it just means we should teach in schools to question the source. We should teach kids how to be news literate. We should teach kids how to fact check using the internet. How do you deal with propaganda? That should be taught at a young age. Sure, in theory, teaching them while they are young how to further look into news stories sounds good. But what does that mean for the teachers? Not all teachers are news literate themselves. In that case, who teaches the teachers how to teach? According to the article I read from, Schooled in Lies, there really is no good data on how to teach children fact from fiction. No doubt, it is a set of skills that people use to distinguish fact from fiction. There are college courses that teach their student show to be news literate and not fall for disinformation, but by the time they hit college it is too late. They are either biased or get duped all the time by fake news. I never thought I would agree that fake news exists, but it does. And believe it or not, there are people out there that launch disinformation campaigns. Don't be a victim to disinformation. In today's age, every person has the right to accurate information. Sometimes, you just have go searching for the right information yourself. Become news literate.