Last week, I went to hear journalist Gabriel Gatehouse speak in Edinburgh. Gatehouse has spent the last few years studying the rise of conspiracy theories in the US, and gave good advice on how to form a balanced opinion in a world that presents us with so many conflicting ones. He said that we should not ignore the facts that challenge our own “cherished worldview.”
The main source of news for young people is now social media. For example, 44% of 16-24-year-olds choose Instagram as their most-used single news source. But, does social media reinforce or challenge our “cherished worldview?” I believe it’s better to consume news through traditional outlets as their most indispensable selling points are the processes of editing and fact-checking that they employ. These outlets are usually held to account for publishing something that is later shown to be untrue.
Mark Twain’s words seem more relevant to social media today: If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed, and if you read the newspaper, you’re misinformed. But social media can play an important role; anyone ranging from the BBC’s top international editor to a layperson like me can share their views on any given subject. Sites such as Instagram, then, can hold traditional news outlets to account, and provide opinions from a huge variety of people. Social media can amplify the voices of those who would never otherwise be heard.
Putting this aside, however, we must remain cautious about taking everything we read online at face value. The two most problematic aspects of consuming news from social media that I identify are as follows: firstly, news stories are rarely so simplistic that they can be condensed into a TikTok video or a post on X; secondly, rarely does social media encourage users to read widely beyond what they already believe.
Thanks to the internet, there’s a diverse array of news sources for us to choose from. As young people, we must learn how to be discerning when choosing what information we consume, whilst continuing to read widely and intentionally seeking out opinions that challenge our own.
Photo by Ravi Sharma on Unsplash