This recent pandemic has given rise to a number of unanswered questions. As a result, people are continuously checking news and browsing their news feed for updated information. As much as this availability of news in enhanced by the existence of the web, on a negative note, it has also widened the scope of misleading information and false news to be propagated. This spread of fake news is not only causing people to act on erroneously, it is also keeping people from real insightful knowledge that would otherwise be helpful.
Although people from all race, gender and age groups are vulnerable to fake news, the problem seems to be more intense when it comes to older generation. In fact, multiple studies have found merit to the added susceptibility of older people believing and spreading false information.
A study by Princeton University researchers found that older Americans were far more likely to share fake news on Facebook. What is more interesting is that the result was true irrespective of their age, sex, ethnicity, employment, or how many links they shared. In addition, according to the study, age had better predict their actions than any other characteristic-including affiliation to a political party.
What exacerbates the issue is that elderly generation typically are more prone to being more rigid to their beliefs. Hence once they consume and internalise the misinformation, it gets really hard to change those. Now, there are already certain guidelines and useful tools to filter out fake news from authentic information. However, the challenge to educate the elderly people of the possible threats of false information still remains. Therefore, to overcome this challenge, here are a few pointers as to how, as a young member of the family, one can impart some insight into the older ones so that the problems of false information can be lessened as much as possible.
The process can be broken down into two components-- explaining the deadliness of false information, and educating on the ways to overcome misinformation.
Explaining deadliness of false information
One thing that should be remembered in this step is that senior people generally do not respond well to being lectured. Giving advice might backfire when it comes to dealing with elderly people. Also, when lecturing, people normally frame it in a way that paints the one being lectured as the culprit. For example, they tend to use phrases like "you are wrong", "you are creating problem", etc. These make them feel like they are being manipulated and it instantly shuts down the conversations completely, while their rigid beliefs only get reinforced.
The focus should be to be aware and respectful of their emotions. It is always tempting to challenge disinformation by explicitly saying that they do not know anything. But everyone should keep in mind that human beings are emotional animals and the meaning of the words does not always gets conveyed the way it is meant to be. And it inevitably gives rise to misunderstanding which fails to do any good. When the beliefs of the senior citizens are rejected by someone, they feel like their identity is being challenged. This is exactly what incites them to get defensive.
Instead, when having the conversation, the younger generation should try to build the case using "we" and "us" pronouns and focus on how the issue is causing trouble to all of them. This takes off the tension that arises when lecturing and the elderly person feels more comfortable listening to and having a constructive discussion. Once this part of the process is taken care of, next comes the delivery of the actual content that is -- how they can filter fake from real.
Educating on ways to overcome misinformation
In this stage, the main goal is to shift the focus to conveying the strategies to verify information from making them understand how they are wrong. In addition, the breakdown of the strategies is also important. Joel Breakstone, director of Stanford History Education Group (SHEG), suggests using these key questions: Who is behind that information, what is their motivation, what is the evidence, and what do other sources say?
On this note, the most easy and effective ways of spotting fake news for elderly people can be summarised into these three points: source of the news, grammatical discrepancies, and developing a critical mindset while reading. For example, a news published by CDC or WHO from their own website will definitely hold more credibility than a random website created by a random online portal. Secondly, inaccurate sources normally do not contain solid grammar and spellings since they are not written by experienced and scrutinised writers. Unprofessional writing is an easy and quick filter system for fake news. And finally, having a critical approach to reading makes lives much easier when it comes to spotting fake news. Fake news tends to have the "shock value". Keeping the emotion in check can go a long way in finding the truthfulness of these news.
The writer is a third-year student of BBA programme at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Dhaka. He can be reached at [email protected]
