Don't Trust The Internet?
Don't Trust Everything You Read
As a child of the internet, one of the first things my parent told me was do not trust the internet. They would always reiterate that on the internet anyone can say anything is true and there is no one there to regulate this. While this is not entirely true, many people will tell you if you are incorrect on the internet, it did give me a healthy wariness of whatever I would read online. When I entered the world of Tumblr, a place infamous for its "Tumblr education" I was prepared not to take any information at face value. However, my parent's warnings and self-determination still did not prepare me for the people who could convince me they were telling the truth. It is easy for anyone to say, "I know that the grass is green because I have a degree in Agriculture." They could have been telling the truth or they could have been lying, but there was no way for me to prove it either way. For a middle schooler, someone declaring their idea and backing it up by saying they studied and graduated in this subject was enough for me to forget what my parents had tried to tell me. Suddenly everyone has a degree in agriculture. While in the long run, my trusting what certain people said online did not have any real long-lasting damage to my life, this cannot be said of everyone. That is to say, not everyone on the internet is lying or being malicious when they speak about things they are not qualified to talk about. While Tumblr was in its prime, before it was sold, it was a large hub for social commentary, art, and yes, education. Not only did people educate, but they also would list sources upon sources for you to look through. Yes, people lie on the internet, but sometimes they also tell the truth.
In A Shocking Turn of Events History Repeats Itself
While it should not come as a surprise, there is a large part of the population that still turns to social media for their news. This should not surprise me because in my life alone most of my peers do not read newspapers or sit down to watch the news on their television. That is to say that I was still surprised when I read that according to Pew Research Center, 39% of adults under 30 regularly get their news from TikTok.
Not only do they get their news regularly from TikTok, but 48% of TikTok users in this age range state that the reason they use TikTok is to get news information. I find it interesting that so many young people get their news this way because the majority of TikTok is someone speaking to their camera. It is not like Tumblr where it is in blogging form and at the end of your post you can link several sources. Not everyone will list their sources at the end of their videos and that is what makes this worrisome in my eyes. I would not completely disregard TikTok as a new source, but I do hope that those who do use it for this kind of content, that they take the time to find other sources to confirm it before they spread the information.
What Does TikTok and Education Have To Do With Each Other?
When a large part of our population gets many of their news sources from TikTok one would hope they fact-check their sources. According to McCrindle, a social research company, a statistic taken from the Australian demographic, 72% believe Gen Alpha demonstrates a higher level of digital engagement than Gen Z. That is to say that the amount of social engagement is only going to grow, from people getting the majority of their news from social media sites to people finding mental health resources online. When you have a population of young adults and children heavily invested in their digital engagement, it is important that they know things like critical thinking skills, media literacy, and other skills that you develop (or should develop) throughout your education. Having these statistics on our population and future generations is important for educators because what they find in this educational research should inform how they educate their students. We must make sure that our students have all the tools they need to safely and effectively navigate the digital world. This means understanding what platforms students are using, why they get a majority of their information on social media sites, and how they can unpack this information and not become misinformation spreaders.
Hi, Justine! This post has given me lots to think about -- I had no idea that learning the news was such a common way to use TikTok! Speaking as a millennial who does not have a TikTok account, it makes me wonder how it compares to other social media apps. Back when I still had an account, Twitter (it was still Twitter back then) was my go-to source and even then, I knew that there was limited truth, but still existent. Your post reminds us that technology is not an enemy but a tool that can show us a lot, so long as we use it carefully. I wholeheartedly agree that sources should be cited so that there is a stronger basis for the news being spread.
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ReplyDeleteHi Justine!
I enjoyed reading your blog post, you gave really insightful thoughts regarding issues around receiving education from social media sites. This line you wrote in particular stood out to me in your paragraph, “Yes, people lie on the internet, but sometimes they also tell the truth.” I think that’s a wonderful take on the issue and I agree with your assessment. It’s incredibly important, especially for children, to be careful about what information they accept as truth online and who they trust, but as you said, sometimes people are telling the truth, which makes the issue of information from social media more complicated than it would be if it could be safely assumed everyone online was 100% lying or 100% honest when sharing knowledge online with others.
I wrote about the same article for my blog post, about how many people these days use TikTok as their news source. I have to say that I was also surprised about how many people use it for the news, I know I shouldn’t be, as everyone I know get their news from social media platforms too, I can’t think of anyone who really reads print newspaper anymore, but its still surprising when seeing just how high the percentage of people getting their news from TikTok was. I also really like how you bring up that on Tumblr, it’s more common to back up their claims with valid sources linked in their blog posts, while that’s not always the case with Twitter or TikTok. Even when someone is telling the truth on the internet and they’re a credible expert, citing sources is still very important to maintain, as it lets others reading their news know this given person is a reliable source of truth online. By the way, the “You really think someone would do that? Just go on the internet and tell lies? Meme is not only hilarious, but perfectly captures this week’s assignment and topic!! Great choice!
I remember hearing, "if there's no video, there's no proof." I think that is advice of what is real that is not relevant anymore. With plenty of AI generated videos and application with filters, you can fake just about anything and they can look realistic to older eyes and less tech-savvy individuals. Although younger individuals have a keen eye on fake video effects, it does seem that fact-checking sources is a skill that still need brought up.
ReplyDeleteI've been a huge advocate of media literacy for years. The more we turn to the internet and social media for our information the more critical this becomes.
ReplyDeleteHey Justine, this blog post was a fun read and really resonated with me. I was a former tumblr user as well, but I have now migrated to Tik Tok as my main form of social media. There's a form of credibility to some of the streamline video content I see on the app, but there are other edited videos that can be questionable. Sometimes people provide additional information in the comments but otherwise a person may have to take further research into their own hands to determine if the information is credible. This can be difficult for younger people who are just learning to navigate the internet so I totally agree that educators play a vital role in developing students' media literacy skills.
ReplyDeleteJustine, the statistics that you used in your blog were very intriguing and were shocking for me to hear as well. It is a bit worrying that one of the primary news sources for this generation is a social media platform which has no checks for what is being told on the site. As someone who has used tiktok in the past I can confirm that there is a lot of misinformation being spread through this platform which can be very misleading.
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