Opinion: Here’s why media literacy makes all the difference
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When I have a break for a few minutes throughout the day, I admit that my first instinct is to scroll through social media. I like to try to stay informed, so I follow quite a few news sources, ranging from industry giants like The New York Times and The Washington Post to local weeklies and, of course, the Daily Emerald.
Unfortunately, this means that a lot of the time, I’m only reading headlines instead of fully digging into the articles. And I’m not alone in this. An article from the Pew Research Center shows that as of 2021, over 85% of U.S. adults got their news from a digital device. In 2023, three in 10 U.S. adults regularly got news from Facebook, with other popular social media platforms drawing in significant news engagement, as well.
In the internet age, we tend to expect everything to be fast. If you could read a short post or watch a TikTok about current events in less than 60 seconds, why would you bother to engage with the whole article? Who has time for that anymore? In a perfect world, you would.
But we don’t live in a perfect world. Take a look at the array of comments under any of those social media news stories if you’re not already convinced. That’s a good way to lose your faith in humanity’s intelligence. People like to run wild with sound bites, sentence fragments and unfounded assumptions the second they get the chance. It’s up to you to get the full scoop and think critically.
You might be asking yourself why it matters so much. As you’re undoubtedly well aware, we’re rapidly approaching election season (anyone else getting incessant political texts at all hours of the day?). More than ever, this is a time when biased news has tangible real-world implications. Even outside of electoral politics, sensationalism in news, particularly on social media, has incredible power to mislead the public. It’s vital to stay aware of it.
Of course, there’s the common assumption that you’re already smart enough to recognize “fake news.” If you know that The Onion is satirical, pat yourself on the back. But it’s not an issue of intelligence, especially when misleading information can be so subtle.
Some headlines are very obviously misleading, but being media literate means looking for potential shortcomings or bias issues even in articles and videos that initially look reputable.
When was that photograph taken? How many people were interviewed in that survey, and how were they chosen? How is the author or creator involved in the events of the story? What do they want you to think about it? Conflicts in any of these categories don’t mean that you can’t get any useful information from the source, but you should move forward with caution.
Unfortunately, for the busiest and laziest of us alike, it’s not as simple as glancing at an article and immediately determining whether it’s trustworthy. It takes a little more than that. For instance, even the search terms and keywords you use when you’re looking for news can make a huge difference in the perspective you walk away with. Try to seek out truly objective news, not just what’s in your comfort zone.
You should always be able to find the author or creator of any source you’re using, and an “about” tab on the publisher’s website is another good sign. The same goes for a date on the source so you can be sure the information is current. Overall, transparency is always a plus.
And for heaven’s sake, verify information before you share it on social media. Don’t be another misinformed conspiracy theorist on Facebook. We have enough of those