What to do when family shares fake news and misleading social posts

By now we’ve all been completely mortified by content shared on a loved ones’ page at least once. I am sure that I’ve shared questionable content and caused others this experience as well.

Is it simply the price we pay for the interconnectedness provided to us through social media? Have you ever stopped dead in your scrolling and asked yourself, “Is my Grandma racist?” Do tell. Or maybe that’s just me. But if it is has happened to you, don’t fret. It happens to the best of us and we’ll explore how to approach these mishaps in this post.

I’ll be honest, I was starting to experience these moments far too often and it motivated me to delete my Facebook account three years ago. I failed to realize that my family and friends did not intentionally post false or misleading information on social media. I also lacked the language and tact needed to start conversations about such posts.

Hey, I’ve lived and I’ve learned and I have a few suggestions. So, here goes… This is for the innocent Grandmas out there.

Information travels far and fast. Research shows that false news travels faster than real news. Many people believe that a post is reliable if it has been shared numerous times, or if it has been shared by a popular source who did not read the content thoroughly and/or failed to do their own fact-checking.

Perhaps, your family member didn’t read the title or the post. Maybe they just liked the colors in the image and intended to share that aspect, not realizing that others would click through to the content. It’s also possible that they did read the post and perceive the content to be true and accurate. Most importantly, we all have biases and are more likely to share content that aligns with those biases.

That’s why digital media literacy for the whole family, including Grandma, is so important. Brain Pop offers excellent digital citizenship resources on media literacy, source reliability, digital etiquette, and cyberbullying. If Brain Pop doesn’t have what you’re looking for, find more media literacy sources HERE.

We can use resources like these to start conversations about responsible sharing. While you may have a specific post in mind, you don’t have to bring it up. Instead, watch a few videos about media literacy, and discuss what it means over family dinner.

Let your friends and family members process the information and hope that it will lead to more responsible sharing in the future.

If you’re not the passive-aggressive type, then just remember to be civil. It’s not what you say; it’s how you say it. Ask questions. Invite them to read posts from people with different perspectives on the same topic (not just your perspective).

Finally, remember that your relationship exists outside of social media. According to Psychology Today, people are feeling lonelier than ever, thanks to social media, and smartphones have diminished our face-to-face interactions. If you need to talk to a friend or family member about a false or misleading post try doing it in person.