With the growth in social media usage over time, people, young people in particular, rely more and more on social media platforms as their main source of news. Instead of researching reliable sources, people gravitate toward the quick, accessible headlines they see when scrolling. Students should stop relying on social media for news.
The Center for Information, Technology and Public Life reports a decline in the availability of local newspapers and news outlets. Without access to reliable sources, people see social media as an easy alternative without thinking about the detriments of misinformation. According to a recent fact sheet, over half of the United States says they get news from social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube. 55% of TikTok users say they regularly utilize the platform for news. Too many people have become reliant on social media, making them vulnerable to consuming more opinionated, biased, or misinformed news rather than factual information.
By turning to social media, people expose themselves to false information that can regularly be found on accounts that aim for views, reposts and other forms of interaction. Heavy social media users in a Yale study shared 38% false headlines, and a study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that fake news can spread 10 times faster than legitimate news stories. Fake news proves a detriment to having an informed society and the spread of misinformation poses dangers to public safety and social aspects that cannot be excused. Additionally, Columbia University breaks down what social media users see into posts they’ve subscribed to, posts people they follow have shared and posts the algorithm predicts they will like based on social media use. Researchers at Georgia State University analyzed the algorithm and AI-generated content, reporting that people disregard obvious fake news if it elicits an emotional response, explaining the alteration of videos and news to make something more dramatized and emotional than in reality and therefore becomes more likely to be shared. This exhibits how fake news outlets manipulate the emotions of their social media audience to spread fake news. The use of algorithms also shows how the news people see on social media can be catered to their beliefs, promoting biased, limited perspectives on current events.
Proponents of using social media for news argue that not all news shared promotes misinformation and that social media informs young people about important news they wouldn’t normally know, engaging them in current events. However, students should be fully prepared before engaging in those topics and must have correct, unbiased and all-encompassing information that most times can’t all be found on social media. Instead, students should be taught how to research reliable news sources and inform themselves the correct way, confirming and debunking information they see on social media before sharing. In doing this, they will add to their knowledge of current events and be able to make informed decisions and conversations.
Fake news spreads quickly, and social media usually does not provide unbiased, accurate accounts of events. To combat this in support of society and public safety, students should check on trusted news sources rather than solely relying on social media.
