Lesson Objective
Participants will be able to raise awareness and/or report suspected misinformation.
Participants will be able to raise awareness and/or report suspected misinformation.
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Disinformation and misinformation can play to people’s emotions through several strategies that can make it difficult to tell the difference between fact and opinion:
Be an emotional skeptic. When information plays to your emotions or gives you a strong emotional reaction, be wary.
Before reacting, pause and think about what the information might be trying to do. Use media literacy techniques to evaluate that information source.
Dealing with misinformation can be complicated because people often don’t realize the extent it impacts their lives. Developing media literacy skills can help empower you to be a more critical consumer, creator and sharer of online content.
You can also help others to develop media literacy skills and stop the spread of misinformation. But talking about misinformation can be challenging, especially with family and friends
What are some strategies that you can use to engage with family and friends to stop the spread of misinformation when online? What if someone you know or care about shares misinformation? How can you help them?
PEN America, a free expression advocacy organization, shares these five strategies for how to talk to others about misinformation:
1. Do your own fact-checking first : You might suspect your friend or family member is sharing misinformation, but be sure to confirm or verify the content they shared is false or misleading before you talk to them about it.
2. To comment or not comment? : A public correction can help educate others about misinformation, but could also give the post greater visibility. It can also be upsetting to the poster to be called out publicly. You might consider sending them a private message politely pointing out the misinformation.
3. Be empathetic : It can be embarrassing to be called out publicly. Use a positive and supportive tone when engaging with someone who shares misinformation, and provide credible evidence to support your position. Otherwise, you risk alienating the person even further.
4. Avoid escalation : Even when you are empathetic, sometimes conversations about misinformation can upset the other person. Just remember, it’s hard for people to accept when they are wrong. The goal may not be to change someone’s mind, but rather to present evidence that debunks the claim.
5. Be a resource for others : Think about the message you’re sending with your own online content. When you post on your own profile, be sure to share factual information from credible sources. You might also consider sharing fact-checking resources and tools to help others.
It is easy to make mistakes when sharing information on social media. Even when you are diligent with critically evaluating sources, you might still end up sharing misinformation. Here are some strategies to help correct the record:
When engaging with online content, remember to utilize the strategies you learned in this module to be a critical consumer and creator of information.
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View PageStudents will learn what information verification is and why it is important for news consumers.
View PageStudents will learn about a five-step checklist they can use to verify the origin, source, date, location, and motivation of news.
View PageStudents will learn how to keep their online information more secure by using and maintaining strong passwords.
View PageStudents will learn to recognize unsecured Wi-Fi when it is available to them, understand the trade-offs inherent in using unsecured Wi-Fi, and make informed decisions about when to connect to and use unsecured Wi-Fi.
View PageStudents will learn about malicious online users who might attempt to use security weaknesses to gather information about them.
View PageStudents will learn what information verification is and why it is important for news consumers.
View PageStudents will learn about a five-step checklist they can use to verify the origin, source, date, location, and motivation of news.
View Page