Having that difficult conversation
Many people struggle about what to say to a friend, family member, colleague or neighbor who believes fake content.
Additionally, for many individuals, part of their job involves engaging with students, users, patrons, customers and clients who come from all walks of life and belief systems.
Today’s rampant misinformation online is dividing social groups who access different outlets for their information and news. The result is we do not all share the same facts.
A common temptation is to respond with sarcasm or ridicule to someone who believes deceptive content or conspiracy theories. But that approach will not facilitate a productive exchange.
Instead, take a deep breath and think of the discussion as one small conversation of what may be many with this person. Empathize with the individual, acknowledging the flood of daily information we are all subjected to, and the sophistication of false messaging that seems legitimate.
1. It is critical to take these big topics in small bites. Media literacy is a mindset and a set of skills and habits of thinking; these will not take hold overnight.
2. Lead with empathy. A starting place of common ground is to jointly recognize that it is chaos out there when it comes to online information, and news consumers have only their own critical thinking skills to save them, as tech companies aren’t looking to help us sort fact from fiction and fake. And above all, avoid expressing sarcasm or contempt toward your conversation partner and what they believe.
3. Focus on process throughout the conversation. I find this very helpful to avoid getting bogged down in particular over “he said/she said” arguments over politicians’ rhetoric. I’m not looking to win votes for a candidate or support for a politician, I am looking to understand how my conversation partner finds and filters information. A comparison of news feeds is useful and can be interesting to both parties if both agree to listen to the perspective of why one of us sees a news site as valuable.
4. Leave the conversation by giving the gift of a tip and a resource. I like to suggest incorporating into one’s news diet AllSides.com for the left, right and center news coverage on major issues of the day. Another gift is teaching someone the useful skill of a reverse image search to use that tool on suspicious images in news stories, social media feeds and other content.
You will not debunk every falsity that someone sincerely believes. But you can suggest new ways of thinking about an issue or idea by offering alternative, factual information.
The best approach is to pre-bunk by demonstrating critical thinking skills such as questioning and fact checking when talking with anyone. Suggest to anyone to spend time on this website’s Conspiracy Theories page to learn all about what conspiracy theories are and why people believe them.
