By Luis Hernandez Espinoza,
Staff Writer.
Technology has surpassed limits beyond what one could’ve imagined. Unlimited access to hundreds of billions of articles has made distinguishing between truth and hoax harder. One of the best weapons humans can have is media literacy: the ability to think critically and analyze what is presented to you. Despite our experience with technology, teenagers need to be aware of clickbait and headlines.
The sole priority of newsletters and social media apps is to make money. How do these companies generate profit? Through clicks and screens. The longer you stay on an app or newsletter, the more you are subconsciously exposed to advertisements. Knowing this, headlines follow a “whatever it takes” approach to get you to click; this includes through the means of spreading false news.
These issues occur beyond just being knowledgeable; it also sets up unrealistic expectations. “As well as grabbing people’s attention, these false stories can also [pack] an emotional punch,” said senior Vy Hoang. By comparing yourself to another person who per say uploaded some sort of photoshopped story, it puts unrealistic expectations on yourself.
Teenagers fall into the trap of invalid news in various ways. One is through repetition. Naturally, repetitive information being sent to our brains gets us thinking that information is correct, even if that information is false. This phenomenon has been labeled the illusory truth. This happens because of repetition; the more it happens, the easier or more fluent it is to process. It’s the same deal as studying a new language: the more practice and reps you put in, the more fluent you’ll be.
Another way news gets to our generation is via artificial intelligence. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has revolutionized the way we see things at face value. Its rapid rise throughout the past couple of years has seen the internet, and people were quick to utilize the tool in order to deepfake certain voices or even videos of a real human being. “It’s weird because every other video online I see is AI and it looks so real,” commented sophomore Elizabeth Hernandez. As you can imagine, this raises many red flags, and as AI continues to grow it’ll be even harder for humans to distinguish the differences. “I only see it through jokes right now, but who knows when it’ll get used for other reasons?” Hernandez added.
The lack of media literacy amongst teens is more apparent than ever in today’s generation. Yes, the teenage brain isn’t fully developed until the age of 25, but keeping an open mind to critical thinking is vital to surrounding yourself with the correct information. And with the correct information, you are led down a path of success.
