The reading set this week “Did Media Literacy Backfire?” By Danah Boyd raises a lot of interesting ideas. It explains how as a society (particularly American, but I think there are elements of the discussion in the whole Western World) now question everything they read and hear, and as a result we are segregating ourselves from each other and moving towards tribalism. In the way that people will now google information about possible illness symptoms that they are and trust a general online forum, instead of the Family Doctor as it was in the ‘olden days’.

Boyd talks about how ‘Fake News’ spreads around the internet, and suggests that it is mostly educated people sharing it as fake news and telling everyone how appalled they are that it’s spreading around the internet.

Now this is a point that really clicked. I have seen this in action and it’s only when it’s pointed out do you realise how ‘everywhere’ it is. My feed on Facebook is always filled with Fake News, and more often than not it’s shared by a someone I am friends with talking about how ridiculous it is that something like that could be on the internet…. The irony kills me.

I found myself only finding a few reputable sources that I have in my news feed that I can trust consistently. When I see a headline in my feed, before I even think about clicking on it and reading it I see where it has come from.
According to Boyd’s article, I’m somewhere in the middle of both extremes. On one end is someone that believes everything they read, and at the other is someone who questions every single bit of information out there.
I think I’m doing okay here in the middle. I mean, you can’t believe everything you hear or read, that’s not how society works. But you can’t exactly questions everything either, or you’d never actually be certain of anything. I’m not sure which is worse, to think you have all the answers but you don’t, or to have access to all the answers but you don’t use them.