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Imagine a button that dumps the contents of a barrel into the open ocean whenever you press it. If you knew it contained trash, you wouldn’t press it. But this is what we’re doing when we pollute the infosphere with bad information. Using language demands mindfulness.
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I recently saw a #medialiteracy warning from @CommonSense - ‘Before you hit retweet, maybe you should pause and think: Am I putting something truthful and helpful out into the world? Or am I part of the problem?’
I would say this is an instance of something broader and more fundamental: the need for mindfulness in how we use language. We should be asking these questions not just before ‘retweeting’ on here, but before saying anything at all, in any context
Good media literacy practices actually address problems that run far deeper and are far more ancient for us as social beings with the most powerful communication system known to have evolved. They are good rules of thumb for the general use of language.
Consider these ‘five things to check before sharing news about politics’ from @CommonSense http://comsen.se/371HPTP :
1) Does it ‘smell’ right?
2) Is it affecting you emotionally?
3) Is it factually accurate?
4) How are other sources covering it?
5) Why do I want to share it?
1) Does it ‘smell’ right?
2) Is it affecting you emotionally?
3) Is it factually accurate?
4) How are other sources covering it?
5) Why do I want to share it?
Think about question (5): ‘Why do I want to share it?’ If only we used this as a filter whenever we talk
In the social media context, it is a warning to ask ourselves whether we are being used as a cog in someone else’s machine. With online news, when we click and share news, we are doing the very thing that news creators are trying to get us to do. It’s their business model.
Whether or not you have an intrinsic interest in sharing something, if you do it with online news, you’ve been played. You know the saying: A human is just an ad’s way of making another ad
You might say you’re okay with that, as long as sharing that piece of information also served your needs or interests. But the problem isn’t just whether you’re being exploited, it’s whether you’re passing on poor quality or false information. It’s about pollution
Whether it is in social media or conversation, when we pass on falsehoods, we are polluting the infosphere. This is why we need mindfulness with language, in real life and online. Would you press a button if you knew it would dump a load of trash in the ocean?
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