Children to be taught how to spot fake news and ‘putrid’ conspiracy theories online in wake of riots

17 comments

1. They’ll also learn how mainstream media outlets stoke the fires and make us more divided through ragebate articles, right? Right?

2. More people need to be aware of resources like https://ground.news/

   Seeing how different media outlets frame things would help children develop critical thinking skills.

3. They could start with the article that Keir Starmer wrote for the Guardian in 2015 about our two-tiered justice system.

   That must have been fake news, because as we know, there’s no such thing.

4. It’s sad that this is something that needs to be considered really, but seeing as we’re all terminally online now days, and from such a young age, I can see why it’s necessary, and much as social media is at fault, more traditional media loves to shit stir, and something should absolutely be done about clickbait crap imo.

5. We get the society we educate. Want a country of critical thinkers? This is a good start. Want a country of drones swayed by propaganda? This is a terrible idea.

6. I remember 20 years ago when it was a running joke about what a worthless subject media studies is to learn and yet here we are, those very same people lambasting it have rotted their brain believing any old shit they see online.

   Media literacy should be a core subject or at least a core module within English.

7. It’s not children who need teaching, it’s grown ass adults.

8. Honestly I think children who are exposed to social media through their entire lives really well be much better equipped to spot bs naturally.

   Educating about this is important but honestly I think adults need it more than kids.

   What I’d really like to see is more readily available resources on facts and data around certain issues. Fake news and conspiracy theories dissolve in the light of actual data and what is left is something that’s actually worth talking about.

   I would be much more willing to have a conversation about immigration for example if I wasn’t talking with someone who thinks “the radical left labour government” somehow supports “the boats” and this is tied into a grand plan to turn the UK into a islamic theocracy.

9. Teacher here- we do this already- they are mandatory sessions. 

10. “Oh! Well done Michael. That’s correct the way we can tell this story is lies or “ragebait bullshit” as you called is that it’s in the Daily Mail”

11. We need to write everything kids have to believe in a book. Some kind of holy book that cannot be questioned.

    Because teenagers love that.

12. Is there not something still called modern studies?

    Teachers can only do so much when the parents themselves are useless.

13. A good way to get a balanced view is to also look at how something is being reported in other countries, yes some of them are biased but it’s a wider view so you can make better decisions.

14. It’s a difficult battle but I don’t think educating will be enough. Fake news and conspiracy theories appeal to people on a basic level, that’s why they’re pervasive.

    If the truth takes too long to understand or doesn’t fit in with an individual’s pre-conceived biases, then the fake news and misinformation is more preferable. People have a bias towards the first piece of information they encounter on a topic, and they’re unlikely to consider something which contradicts it. If people think they have the facts, they’re less likely to search for updated information anyway.

    This has become a significant problem in the age of social media and “instant news”, especially in situations where lies can be told immediately while the truth takes time to dig out.

    Measures to combat fake news won’t be popular with some people on this sub.

15. It doesn’t really matter, if life is terrible then they’ll just believe what they want. That’s how all of this operates anyway.

    In any case the only way for children to identify misinfo is to teach them proper critical thinking skills, and if you did that they would actually start doing things like asking why immigration is so high or why unions aren’t as strong as they are, and that might make a few millionaires a bit concerned so I guess it can’t happen.

16. In other words, critical thinking, which we should have been teaching anyway!

17. What the last few years have demonstrated is that conspiracy theories, putrid or otherwise, are just advanced copies of the truth