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They’ve grown up online. So why are our kids not better at detecting misinformation?
(www.thestar.com)
this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2023
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Because no-one taught them to. Just because they have access to the internet doesn't mean that they're automatically better at using it. Like how they're not automatically experts at typing or using the computer, just because they cannot remember a time before internet access was almost ubiqituous.
And since media literacy classes aren't taught as much as they used to be, they have no easy way to learn to properly critique media, and detect Misinformation. If they're left to their own devices, they don't have the skills to not fall into the Misinformation vortices when learning to critique media.
Couple that with the rise of anti-intellectualist views, and that's just a recipe for trouble. Yes, sometimes the curtains are blue because the author picked it for fun, but sometimes, the author specifically went out of their way to mention the curtains, and their colour, and there is a reason for that.
I think they do learn, just learn the wrong messages. Areas spreading misinformation usually are very accepting of those who agree with them, it's an easy way to feel accepted. Doom scrolling is a very easy way to feel included and feed your dopamine receptors, but when the rush is gone, it just leaves you depressed.
No one taught gen x and millenials how to discern misinformation, but we figured it out. Why didn't gen Z?
You think? Look at the ages of the antivaxxers and trumpers..
Mostly boomers?
Most of the ones I've come across have been GenX or younger.
Boomers are in their 60s now, they're not really going on the internet spreading rumours.