Navigating The Era of “Fake News”

Social media and the digital world are a minefield for misinformation. In the era of “fake news,” anyone can write a story or create a video and share it with millions of people around the world. Children can be a target of this misinformation, but they can also be part of the solution. 

Take Finland, for example. The Nordic nation which shares a border with Russia was recently ranked Europe’s most resistant nation to fake news. As part of their strategy to combat misinformation, Finnish schools teach these lessons in primary school and spread them across all subjects.

“The goal is active, responsible citizens and voters,” said teacher Kari Kivinen. “Thinking critically, fact checking, interpreting and evaluating all the information you receive, wherever it appears, is crucial. We’ve made it a core part of what we teach, across all subjects.”

Teaching children how to think critically about where their information comes from and how to discern fact from fiction is not only critical to their lives in the future; it is critical to their lives now. For example, an investigation by NewsGuard recently found that children as young as nine were targeted with misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines quickly after signing up for an account on TikTok. One-quarter of TikTok’s users in the U.S. are between 10 and 19 years old.

Our students need these tools now. According to Common Sense Media, only 44% of students feel that they can tell the difference between fake news stories and real ones. Yet, they’re being bombarded with false media every day. Our students need these tools now so that they can become confident navigating this digital news landscape and become effective digital citizens.