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The grandmother problem. It’s something we’ve probably all come across at one point or another. Social media has made it easy for us to share information with others, but that doesn’t mean that all of it is reputable. It can be hard to confront friends or family members that share false or misleading information, but doing so is extremely important so that we can all work together to create a media landscape that is honest and trustworthy.
The best way to approach those who spread misinformation is to come from a place of knowledge and encouragement. You would never want to shame the person sharing the misinformation, because chances are, they have a strong confirmation bias towards the subject and don’t want to believe that what they’re sharing is wrong.
The easiest way to get someone to understand is to walk them through why the article is misleading. Maybe the language is charged or the author isn’t reputable, whatever the case may be, it can help to show the person why the article is misleading. Assure them that you’re not telling them this because you disagree with their opinions, but because you want everyone to work together to create a credible media environment.
I’ve always tried to get them to look at it this way: you wouldn’t want someone lying about important information to you, so why would you do the same to your social media followers?
However, like I said earlier, the most important thing to do is be encouraging. Tell them to keep sharing articles and that their voice is important but just to make sure an article is accurate before sharing it. It just takes a few extra seconds, but it really helps to make social media a safe place to receive news from.
A lot of people may not know how to do this, or may ask how to be sure an article is credible, and for that I’ll refer you to factitious. Factitious is an online game all about how to recognize “fake news”. It shows the player a short excerpt from an article, as well as the source, and asks the player to identify the piece as real or fake.
Once you’ve made your decision, factitious will automatically tell you if you were correct or not, as well as why the article was real or fake. This is the most important part of the game, as it teaches players key things to look out for when deciphering real information from misinformation.
If the person you’re approaching isn’t really into games, this article from The Verge could be a good resource to share instead. Though I do prefer the factitious game, I know not everybody is a hands on learner. The article goes in depth about how to fact check a story’s credibility and can be used as a reference guide when they do, hopefully, go to check the next story they share.
Hopefully, after opening up this conversation with your friends or family members, it will make them think twice before sharing online and help them understand why we should all be held accountable for sharing reputable information.
