Nowadays, there is a constant bombardment of news, both local and global, flooding our phones and lives. Information has never been easier to access before now, with stories from multiple sources and perspectives available at a few clicks of a button. However, whilst we have many news sources around us, it does beg the question as to how legitimate these sources are, and whether we are fact checking appropriately.
Research has shown that 75 per cent of 16–24-year-olds specifically use social media to get their news, with X being the platform to find more ‘serious’ news. Over half of these young people say that these are ‘trustworthy’ news sources and tend to wait for the news to come to them, rather than actively seeking it out. These developing trends bring up debates as to how this impacts our ability to decipher genuine news from fake news, as well as how generally informed we are about the world around us.
Social media provides news that is quick and easily understandable, but can this take away from the complexity of certain stories? The full extent of many news stories at the moment simply cannot be covered in a 30 second TikTok. One student talked to me about this risks this poses when it comes to making judgements on information.
“Many stories require huge amounts of context in order to be fully understood, for example the conflict in Sudan,” she explained. “It requires a lot more background research, which most people are not doing for themselves. I’m worried this leads to misinformed judgements and then more fake news being spread.”
The ease and accessibility of news is a big priority for students. One showed me the news headline widgets she had on her lockscreen.
“The Apple News app displays important headlines and then I can click on it and read more if I choose to.”
I went on to ask her if she read multiple sources on the same story as a form of factchecking.
“I will do that if it is accessible, and more as a form of interest than fact checking,” she said.
In this day and age, it is clearly easy to pick and choose what stories and articles you are personally interested in. Many apps have filters where you can pick what topics you want to read about. Whilst it is good people are still engaging with news sites and credible journalism, being able to pick and choose which topics you want to read about can severely narrow down the global issues one is informed about.
Part of this also comes from which sources students choose to trust. Multiple students told me they would not trust an article written by Fox News because of their affiliations with the Republican party in the US; they would rather read about the same story written by another outlet like BBC News. Having so many different news sources can be beneficial as it gives consumers many options to explore different perspectives, but it can also make it difficult to know which ones to trust. Not only this, but by just picking the stories that are pushed to you by the news outlet, this also inhibits your own personal abilities to decipher which news stories are worth reading about. Breaking down critical thinking skills like this can make us more susceptible to fake news and believing unverified sources.
With the rise of convincing AI, it is becoming harder and harder to identify which news stories are genuine. When this is combined with the fact that most young people get their news from social media, which is rapidly becoming more and more infiltrated with AI, it makes the news landscapes a much trickier landscape to navigate. Without factchecking stories, that leaves people susceptible to fake, and often extreme news.
Other students also voiced concerns about opinions infiltrating information.
“Most of the videos about global issues on social media heavily feature the creator’s opinion, which whilst there is a time and place for, it often means that their opinion can be misconstrued to be factual,” one student explained. “This makes it harder for the average person to form their own, objective opinion on an issue, and be properly informed about it. I worry about what that means for critical thinking skills.”
The news landscape is clearly changing, and the way students get their news with it. Nowadays, it is about convenience and accessibility, and to some extent, being able to choose what stories you are personally interested in. It is good that students are still interested in global issues and the world around them, but we must continue to be vigilant in factchecking and source analysis, now more than ever given the rise of AI and fake news.
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash