It’s increasingly clear that we need to be street smart and SAVVY about the two-way stream of information between ourselves and the social media. On the one hand we need to be wise about what we put ‘out there’ and on the other we need to be careful about what information and visuals we allow into our brains… Most importantly we need to double-check everything we read before we believe!
Fake news
Today my WhatsApp was flooded with a post “Please tell all the contacts in your messenger list not to accept Jayden K. Smit, he’s a hacker… he’ll hack you!!!”I immediately googled www.snopes.com, the fact-checking and Internet reference source for urban legends, rumours, and misinformation (try it sometime, it helps). Hoax! I learned there have been countless similar hoaxes: ‘Accepting a Facebook friend request from a stranger will not provide hackers with access to your computer and online accounts’.
Another mischievous post on Facebook claimed that Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshegka was warning children against too much reading as it could cause brain cancer. It is easy to read such news and click ‘share’ and so you, in ignorance, help perpetuate fake news. The truth is Motshegka is passionate about reading and has launched a campaign called Read to Lead.This should be a lesson to us never to pass on information we have not verified first.
Never before have we had so much information at our fingertips and if this abundance is going to help make us smarter and better informed or more ignorant and narrow-minded will depend on ourselves. Neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin says, “What looks like (and reads like) the truth may be riddled with lies if you look more closely. MISINFORMATION abounds and has proliferated!
Common strategies used to hide misinformation in plain sight are:
- Hide lies amongst some truths - one effective technique is to get a whole bunch of verifiable facts right and then add one or two that are untrue.
- Website Masquerades - many websites are false, use misleading names and pretend to be something they are not. If a site looks fishy to you, click around until you see what entity owns it. Do a Google search to see who else links to that web page.
- Numbers are given without any context - in this way wrong impressions are easily created. Pure sensationalism!
- Claims are made using false sources - Unscrupulous writers rely on most people not reading footnotes or checking citations. When a product sounds too good to be true, check further.
Media literacy
In a world where anybody can launch any ‘news’ at any time we must develop our own level of media literacy to avoid being easily ‘duped’. Improve your on-line savvy by considering these pointers on how to tell real news from fake news from journalist Laura McClure:
- Who is the author? - Always look for a journalist’s by-line. Learn more about their journalism and whether they built their reputation on reporting the truth.
- What are the claims? - Real news will include multiple primary sources when discussing a controversial claim. Fake news sites use fake sources. When in doubt, dig deeper. Facts can be verified.
- When was it published? - Look at the publication date. If it’s breaking news, be extra careful.
- Where was it published? - Real news is published by trustworthy media outlets with a strong fact checking record.
- How does it make you feel? - Fake news or propaganda is designed to awaken strong emotions. If you feel super angry, pause and take a breath. Then check on other news sites to decide if it is real or fake. Don’t believe everything you read. There is no substitute for critical thinking.
Be aware: Your social media presence influences people
Your reputation on-line
When we interviewed potential new tenants for a townhouse, it was a simple matter of typing a name into Facebook’s search bar to get an idea of the tenant’s suitability - or not! Naturally the chap who had uploaded photo after photo of himself out partying wildly… well he was quickly crossed off the list!
Do you know a jobseeker?
In the same vein nowadays when a company is looking to hire a new employee, they do their research. This means they are likely to take a sneak-peek into social media accounts. They can form a pretty good impression of an applicant beyond the tidy CV - and they are totally within the law doing so. So if you know of anyone looking for a job, I recommend you advise them to do some social media auditing to tidy up their online image!
Facebook Tips
If you find undesirable ‘stuff’ on your facebook page, you don’t have to feel helpless. You can manage what appears there. In the top right hand corner of the post you will see a drop down arrow - V. Click on it and see a list: Save link, Hide post, Unfollow, Report this post and Turn on/off notifications for this post.
- If you wish to refer to the post later, click ‘save link’ and you will find it remains under saved links in the sidebar.
- To delete a post from your wall, ‘Hide post’.
- If you are interested in a thread of conversation, click ‘Turn on notifications for this post’ and that conversation will appear on news.
- If a post is offensive it is worthwhile reporting it - the Facebook administrators do respond.
Don’t be duped: Critical thinking skills
Roxanne Bailey lecturer at NWU, says critical thinking is an important life skill. It must be an objective of education since we live in an era where individuals are confronted daily by a magnitude of information and we need to distinguish between truths and untruths. We all have a responsibility to hone our higher-order thinking skills. This is a challenge but it is not an impossible task, particularly if we choose to guard our minds against misinformation. Just as information is available at the touch of a finger, so too is a double check. Finally consider discussing this issue with your children. They will have even more to do with online ‘news’ than you and need to learn to always check the credibility of what they read and learn online!