Polarization, misinformation and young people
We’re at a crossroads for democracy in the United States. I want to point to two things happening now that are concerning for the next generation.
Twitter is poised to become a cesspool of misinformation and bullying, with Elon Musk’s takeover last week. Musk promises "more free speech" and less moderation, which will encourage people to post and comment before critically thinking about the content.
This Pew Research poll shows that American adults under 30 years old trust news from social media sources almost as much as national news sources. Half of 18- to 29-year-olds in the United States say they have some or a lot of trust in the information they get from social media sites, just under the 56% who say the same about information from national news organizations, but somewhat below the 62% who say so about information from local news organizations.
We will continue to see further polarization in our political stances. We're choosing our news based on our bias and what we already believe to be true, so our ideas are not challenged. We just hear what we want to hear.
Our director, Lisa Honold, spoke on New Mexico’s KOAT News about why you shouldn’t trust social media as a news source. The goal for social media platforms is to get you to engage with the content, not to educate you or make sure the content is accurate or good. They only want to entertain you, so you’ll stay on their app for longer and they can harvest more of your personal information so they can sell it to advertisers.
The danger is if you browse social media sites like Twitter and Instagram, see a news headline and assume that -
you know the whole story
the story is true.
Have you heard of the term “Clickbait”? That’s what social media sites like to do - give you a teaser headline that makes you click!
Clickbait is when someone writes sensationalized or misleading headlines so you’ll click on it out of curiosity. It often relies on exaggerating claims or leaving out key information in order to encourage traffic.
What to do instead
Don’t fall for Clickbait! Instead, read the story before forming an opinion and position on the story. Don’t just read the headline and repost it! This spreads false information and can create unnecessary conflicts, plus behind the scenes, you’re telling the social media platform that this content is engaging, so please send me more of it. Also take a look at which organization wrote it or hosts it. This may give you a clue about a bias in the article.