We are bombarded with information at every waking moment, and yet, not all of us can verify if it is legitimate. This has never been more apparent than in the past two years. It might seem logical to assume that we should have gotten better at recognizing misinformation, but that is clearly not the case! Whether it is a self-proclaimed godman holding enough sway to deprecate a section of the society that has been under tremendous stress during a pandemic, or a riled up crowd being provoked to try and overthrow congress in the land of liberty, we have seen how potent misinformation can be.
It is very tempting to blame all this on the media outlets that are responsible for broadcasting the information. But it is important to note how we are an integral part of the news cycle, even if we intend on distancing ourselves from the circulation of illegitimate information.
Unsurprisingly, it has been observed that our brains instinctively assume all new information to be true. This initial bias is overturned only if that person voluntarily tries to research the content that was published. Even now, most of you assumed that the first statement in this paragraph is true, but have I provided a legitimate source pertaining to the matter yet?
In the age of endless scrolling, it might seem taxing to stop and open a new tab to verify what we read. We’ve shortened our attention spans to the extent that we would much rather read two contradictory stories pertaining to any issue, published from rival organizations, rather than trying to invest time in building an original school of thought. This is not limited to articles either, since we are also aware of the scathing debates that rattle our eardrums every night, in the name of sensationalism.
In traditional journalism, reputed sources relied on thorough verification of any news story in order to increase revenue. But modern news feeds are driven by advertisers. This inevitably leads to a rat race of trying to be the first to hit the publish button, leaving the onus on you to try and verify if what you’ve stumbled upon, is factual. This is where all misinformation can stem from, because once a publisher has muddied the waters with an ill-researched news story, there is always going to be a vast majority of the target audience which will not think twice before sharing the headline.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that the article was published with ill intentions either, but the fact that a person with a considerable online presence can easily game the system should be more alarming than it is. But it is not. If anything, this can only become worse due to an increase in the number of people looking to brand themselves as online influencers. One of the ways they can get more followers would be to share sensationalized news stories and provide an opinion that is bound to make more headlines.
The process of having to go through multiple articles from various sources just to get a semblance of the truth is resource intensive, but it is necessary. Does it mean we have to be skeptical about everything we read online, to the point where we are paranoid that nothing is true anymore. No. But in order to get closer to the facts, it is always helpful that we play our part.
Whether it is exercising restraint before clicking on sensational headlines, or being able to know when to stop consuming too much information, depends on the individual. Critically analyzing any topic to arrive at a well-researched opinion is a skill, and we can only get better by actively working on it. So I can only urge you to take some time and counter misinformation at a very primitive level, instead of arguing over whose misinterpretation of the truth seems more accurate.
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