this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2023
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Science
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Who looks for facts on social media?
Many people do unfortunately.
It’s not even about looking for facts. If you hear something enough it’ll start to sound normal, so it’s bad even if people don’t look for information on social media.
Plus, we know that people get a lot of their information from social media. Being smug about that isn’t exactly helpful.
What would be helpful?
Don't use Tiktok (and other low quality social media like Twitter) and encourage people you know to do the same. Suggest alternatives like federated sites, and help people navigate it if you can.
Firmly correct disinformation when you see it. If you have a topic of interest you find yourself repeatedly addressing, keep a short copy/paste response with easily digestible sources to make the process quick and painless.
Engage as little as possible with disinformation, since any kind of engagement is exactly what they're looking for. When you stumble upon it, state a brief sourced correction and quickly leave. If someone beat you to it, simply leave and avoid in the future.
Teach your friends and family about the dangers of misinformation, and the importance of vetting sources. Peer reviewed journal = great. Random youtuber/tiktoker = needs sources to confirm validity.
Try to be as polite as possible when addressing disinformation because aggression can cause people to dig their heels in and push them further into the false narrative.
Learn terms to describe the spread of disinformation that are easy for people to grasp. Learning and teaching others about things like "good/bad faith arguments" so you can spot and effectively counter trolls, recognizing "irony poisoning" that is a driving force behind the normalization of extremist views, and understanding how "woke" actually means "tolerant and respectful of the differences between human beings" can all help people to see what's happening and protect against disinformation.
If you're motivated enough, start your own publication that provides accurate, well sourced information on your topics of interest, or join an already established publication as a freelance contributor.
Don't give up. Don't let anyone convince you that the fight is already over and that we're doomed to live out 1984. The real fight hasn't even begun, because so many people are too caught up in their own stressful lives to realize there's a full blown culture war going on here. Once more people open their eyes to it, sanity will prevail. These points here are exactly how you can begin opening people's eyes.
I’d say the most important thing is teaching young people to be critical about the information they consume, which is only possible if this is talked about in a serious and comprehensive manner in school. Studies like this most likely enable that.
Also, having actual, decent information on those platforms also helps, most likely.
But if you’re asking me to solve this mess, idk. Misinformation has always been a thing.