In light of the explosion of news around things such as lockdowns, COVID-19 outbreaks in communities, social justice movements, etc. anxiety has been running high. One of the issues that have been on the rise in the problems connected to fake news on social media platforms. This is problematic because it hits close to home. After all, we and our kids are always plugged in, whether on social media, tv, or simply in conversation with peers. On average a person spends up to 144 mins per day on social media. In a poll conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs for Canada's Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) on 25,229 Canadian internet users, it was found that 90% of them believe that they were persuaded by fake news on platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, and the TV. This suggests that we know that there is fake news but the questions are why is it so easy for us and our kids to fall into believing it and how can we ensure we can identify it?
The reason this is so detrimental is that it can affect our mental wellbeing. If we are consistently exposed to things that cause stress then our stress hormones increase for long periods. When this happens, it can have negative impacts on our physical health as well. According to Harvard heighten stress can result in high blood pressure, stroke, and heart disease.
We can learn to identify whether something is true or not by approaching information without bias. When we see things on social media that have intriguing titles we should question them. One technique can be searching for data that challenge titles or social media posts to see what can be found. This practice can help us to broaden the knowledge that we already have or see evidence from a different perspective. Ensure that when you are using sources like Google to check multiple links and not only ones that fit your narrative. Some other tools include talking to professionals that have a background/education in the topic because they have firsthand hard evidence that is not based on opinion, removing or limiting social media or media exposure, and doing consistent self-checks by asking yourself if your information collected is based on opinion or fact.
