Key Takeaways:
An image that seems to show just that was shared by many people after Hurricane Ian struck Florida in 2022. Snopes found it circulating as far back as 2011 after Hurricane Irene slammed Puerto Rico. When deciding whether to trust a piece of information, itโs good to start with three main questions: Who said it, what evidence did they give and how much do you want to believe it?Primary sources โ people or groups who are directly involved with the information โ are best.Secondary sources are one step removed โ for example, news stories based on primary sources.
Have you ever heard a story so exciting you wanted to share it right away? Something like a shark swimming up a flooded highway?
An image that seems to show just that was shared by many people after Hurricane Ian struck Florida in 2022. It was also widely shared after Hurricane Harvey hit Houston, Texas, in 2017. Itโs a fake โ a flooded highway image combined with one of a great white shark. The fact-checking website Snopes found it circulating as far back as 2011 after Hurricane Irene slammed Puerto Rico.
Truth can be tricky to determine. Every message you read, see or hear comes from somewhere and was created by someone and for someone.
I teach media literacy, which is a way to think about information you get in the messages you receive via media. You might think media means the news, but it also includes TikTok posts, television, books, advertisements and more.
When deciding whether to trust a piece of information, itโs good to start with three main questions โ who said it, what evidence did they give and how much do you want to believe it? The last one might seem a little strange, but youโll see why itโs important by the end.
Who said it?
Letโs say youโre really excited about a game thatโs coming out later this year. You want to be the first to learn about the new creatures, characters and game modes. So when a YouTube video pops up saying, โGAME COMING TWO WEEKS EARLY,โ you canโt wait to watch. But when you click, itโs just a guy making predictions. Do you trust him?
A source is where information comes from. You get information from sources every day โ from teachers, parents and friends to people youโve never met on news sites, fan channels and social media. You probably have sources you trust and ones you donโt. But why?
Would you trust your history teacher to tell you something about history? Probably, because they have a college degree that says they know their stuff. But what if your history teacher told you a fact about science your science teacher said was untrue? Youโd probably be better off going with the science teacher for your science facts. Just because a source is trustworthy in one subject doesnโt mean theyโre trustworthy in every subject.
Letโs go back to the YouTuber. If youโve watched him for a while and heโs reliably correct, thatโs a good start. At the same time, make sure you donโt confuse his having an opinion with actually having knowledge. Just because you like a source doesnโt make it trustworthy.
This is true for websites, too. When a site grabs your attention, take a second to check the source at the top. Some fake sites use names that sound trustworthy โ like โBoston Tribuneโ instead of โBoston Globeโ or โwww.cbs.com.coโ instead of โwww.cbs.com.โ You can click the โAboutโ page to see where theyโre really coming from, use lists of known fake sites and other fact-checking resources to avoid getting played.
Whatโs the evidence?
Evidence is what you show when someone says โprove it!โ Itโs the details that support what a source is saying.
Primary sources โ people or groups who are directly involved with the information โ are best. If you want to learn about the release of a new game, the companyโs official accounts or channels would be primary sources.
Secondary sources are one step removed โ for example, news stories based on primary sources. They arenโt as strong as primary sources but are still useful. For example, most news on gaming site IGN is based on information from game company sources, so itโs a good secondary source.
Can a blogger or YouTuber be a secondary source? If their claims start by referencing primary sources like โElectronic Arts says,โ thatโs good. But if they start with โI thinkโ or โThereโs a lot of buzz,โ be careful.
Do you want to believe it?
Emotions can get in the way of knowing whatโs true. Messages that make you feel strong emotions โ especially ones that are funny or make you angry โ are the most important ones to check, but theyโre also the hardest to ignore.
Advertisers know this. Many ads try to be funny or make the things theyโre selling look cool because they want you to focus on how you feel rather than what you think. And being older doesnโt mean youโre automatically better at spotting false information: 41% of 18-to-34-year-olds and 44% of adults 65 and older admitted to having fallen for a fake news story in a 2018 study. Other research showed adults over 65 were seven times as likely to share articles from fake sites as younger people were.
So if youโve been eagerly waiting for that new game, and somebody posts a video that says itโs coming out early, your wanting it to be true can make you ignore your common sense โ leaving you open to being fooled.
The best question you can ask yourself when youโre thinking about a message is, โDo I want to believe this?โ If the answer is yes, itโs a good sign you should slow down and check the source and evidence more closely.