TMI: How Much Information is Too Much?

Original Post By: Kate Wegner

Author: E.A.

My seventy-year-old immigrant grandmother, equipped with sixth-grade level education and a fifth-generation iPhone, is adamant that a scientifically proven vaccine will give her Parkinson’s disease. Despite vaccinating her children and putting her blind faith in doctors for several other health matters, she cannot move past this conspiracy theory about the COVID-19 vaccine. How did this happen? In Kate Wegner’s essay about the internet and its rapidly changing vast content, she highlights how social media’s misinformation is at an all-time high. It’s easy for facts to go unchecked, showing the importance of media literacy and remaining critical of online information.

After hearing my grandmother speak about vaccines based on false articles, it is evident how easy it is for people to dig themselves into a hole of only seeing posts that fuel their attitudes and beliefs. Wegner explains the use of Facebook to fuel hate speech and far-right opinions, and this is especially evident in the 2016 United States election. This is reflected once more during the pandemic–whether it be vaccines, anti-mask beliefs, 5G as the start of COVID-19, or anti-Asian sentiments. These are all perpetuated by the fake news prevalent on Facebook, specifically for older people who lack the media literacy skills that young people use to discern correct from incorrect.

While this is not to claim young people never fall prey to misinformation, the ability to recognize radically incorrect information is much easier for the media literate and those who have been given opportunities to critically analyze media– typically young adults.

Wegner notes that Facebook has had a significant decrease in the number of users ages 18-29. This can be attributed to the fact that most people in these age groups have grown up learning how to approach social media critically and, for the most part, understand what news is productive and at least slightly accurate. As the digital era progresses, more information becomes available about how media use affects health, especially highlighting that mass consumption of media is not always positive. When I was young and finally allowed on social media platforms, I had a field day, signing up for every platform I could. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve understood the importance of my mental health and how addicting social media can become. New areas of study in universities, such as Western’s Media Information and Technoculture (MIT) program, look at the sociology of media and teach students how to remain critical of what is presented to them. Unfortunately, this luxury is not afforded to people like my grandmother, and thus the internet remains a scary place full of endless, un-fact-checked information ready for trusting minds to devour.

Another breeding ground for misinformation is TikTok. This relatively new platform creates unique algorithms for specific individuals, providing their own “for you pages” full of targeted videos for the user. This becomes concerning when there is a lack of accountability for content creators. Many so-called “facts” are simply statements made in a viral video, and people may take it for face value. There is little to no fact-checking, so these opinions go out into the world for influenceable thirteen-year-olds (yes, the minimum age limit for TikTok is thirteen) ready to believe anything with a couple of hundred likes.

These are some of the most popular TikTok creators.

Clearly, there are not many criteria to influence millions of users!

Even though young adults have strayed away from the radical misinformation on Facebook, there is no escaping this phenomenon altogether, as seen through the ability to believe content on TikTok for its familiarity. In addition, my “for you page” might never overlap with one of my friend’s, meaning we see none of the same content. While this can be great for a user-oriented experience, it creates a disconnect between users and caters to extreme biases or misinformation.

There is also some discrepancy between which social media site is most “reliable.” For younger generations who view Facebook as “falling into the black hole of uncoolness,” the opposite can be said for older generations who approach newer platforms like Tiktok with skepticism (Wegner). Each platform is equipped with curated posts to spoon-feed you content that satisfies your bias. No matter which social media platform one deems as more reliable, and no matter how much media literacy one has, these bottomless pits of information can be dangerous for every generation and perpetuate self-righteousness and blind faith.