Social Media is not to blame for the “post-truth” world
The Oxford Dictionary made “post-truth” the word of 2016. It defines it as: “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief”.
There are numerous reasons for why social media could be blameworthy for the “post-truth era”. From politicians, news outlets, entertainers and regular media users, spreading false information is easy and often egotistically induced. News outlets may want to garner more advertising clicks, politicians may want to improve their own narrative and social media users may justifiably be misinformed. As such, social media allows for this quick sharing of one-sided opinions and material. This post-truthfulness creates an unstable ground for media consumers, as their trust becomes wary.
However, social media is not to blame for the “post truth era”. Instead, the ability for social media users to dispel the truth is even more viable than ever before. With huge numbers of eyeballs everywhere, false information will inevitably be dispelled and counter-argued. In particular major news stories; it won’t take too long until someone does some simple research to discredit misinformation. As an example, Reddit, is well known for being a reliable source of information because of the amount of readers who easily identify skeptical information and call out even the slightest unreliable fact. In this age of incredible amounts of content and material there is definitely more opportunity for falsified information, yet there is also more opportunity for detailed fact checking to occur. The rise of conspiracy theories regarding false-flags is one example of how media will always be questioned. Various global attacks and are being meticulously questioned; whether the reasoning is true or not is a matter of opinion, but the questioning itself exhibits the potential of social media.
There will always be duality, as such the duality of truth and untruth. False information and untruth has always existed, it is simply now easier to identify. As more truth is revealed, an equal amount of untruth or biased opinions will also come to the surface. It is therefore up to the users of social media to use caution and fact checking on their own behalf. As a result, users learn to form their own judgements and gauge the credibility of a source through their own discernment.
Lies and deceit have always been everywhere. Personally, I believe social media is an incredible tool for uncovering the actual truth. There are so many resources and the credibility of sources can be verified if one actually cares enough about some particular content. If social media users spread misinformation and deceit, it is either for their own personal gratification or they do not necessarily care enough to verify the truthfulness of the content. Mainstream media sites have the ability and potential to become the dispellers of false information and build trust with their readers. Therefore, it’s all fair game as discernment is a skill that is particularly valuable to hone in this “post-truth” world.
