Information Illiteracy In The Time Of Information Overload
It might be a common occurrence for some people to scroll through their social media feed and seeing some news or information that is seemingly far-fetched or just absurd, at least from our perspective. If you are one of these people, then you are one of many that do.
We perceive the world from our perspective, a perspective that is shaped by our upbringing, education, environment, and social interactions. We have our own mindset, ways of looking at things, and our biases. That is how we perceive the same information differently from other people.
In the era of the Internet, Globalization moves at a more unprecedented rate. Information spreads across the globe at the speed of light, quite literally. It is highly crucial for every individual to filter out information coming their way. As you might have known, there are pieces of information made to mislead, trick, or misdirect you in order to advance certain causes. There must be different, deviating, or even conflicting information about pretty much every matter of issues that are going on in the world today. This kind of information overload is making it difficult to make up an idea of what is actually happening.
To be information literate is to be able to filter out which information is true (as objectively as possible), and which one is false. Some people, unfortunately, do not have adequate information literacy. There are some people that are only taking in or interpreting information that supports their theories, beliefs, solemnly based on their perception. These people are having a difficult time thinking objectively and believing something that defies their own beliefs. This is called Confirmation Bias.
There is also another form of information illiteracy, some people only see the headline, the clickbait title, and does not bother reading further or researching the whole matter, almost no effort to verify the legitimacy of the information they consumed. They saw the headline, they thought it is as what it is, they share the information, most likely to like minded people, without understanding the big picture.
Information overload can happen to anyone, the Internet has been really cheap and easy to access practically everywhere. If you are faced with different or conflicting information, it is wise to verify the legitimacy of such information by researching more into the matter, reading various sources, until you can tell for sure if it is legit information, a misdirection, or simply a hoax. Take every information with a grain of salt, do not easily believe everything you see on the internet, even this article, ironically. Happy learning!
