I decided to help my mother and attempt to try and assist her in understanding the severity of sharing misinformation on her social media and how to improve her approach overall. As stated in my previous Module 6 post, the first step in this process, was to be honest and respectful, so I made sure that my chosen words were not demeaning or misunderstood in any way.
I then showed her multiple times where she had recently shared misinformed posts for her followers, and I explained why these posts she was sharing were not credible enough for her to even read, let alone to share on social media. Next, I described what has helped me and fellow journalists abide by a criteria to have credible sourcing through our social media, which are the SPJ Code of ethics that have been the pillars to journalism and what can help as a guide to follow for not just her, but all of us.
We then went through her social media following list, and eliminated double or triple pages of the same account. I explained to her there are verified pages that are credible enough with just that one page she follows, having too many duplicated pages of a news network or any form of media outlet can lead to confusion and sharing false information.
I reiterated to her how costly it can be to share misinformation, especially because social media is the place many people turn to for recent news. Just as much as she use to rely on Walter Cronkite every night for accurate news, people depend on social media daily for world news the same way. So it is essential to be accurate and verify more often before actually posting something.
Overall it was a productive talk, and it was civil between us. In the past, when social media was just starting, I remember getting impatient at times with trying to “teach her” how to use the different types of social media pages she wanted to be a part of. Now, as I have gotten older, I realize how much more effective it is to teach someone with a lot more patience initially. In the end, I left her knowing that this is all a learning process, and it would take us multiple times of repetition to make sure sharing accurately and effectively is more her style. I also mentioned to her, if she ever needed, she shouldn’t hesitate to call me and ask a simple credible source or verification question. I rather her do that than share another misinformed post.
