Social media has allowed everyday citizens to
become authors, editors, and publishers of news and information. Do you believe
that social media has increased the quality of news and information or
decreased it? In my opinion, social media has decreased the quality of news and
information for a many number of reasons. One main reason is that in the times
of today almost anyone can go online and write there own theories and create
false rumours that could cause a lot of major issues world wide. Social media indeed has opened up the world of news and
information making it very accessible to everyone in the world weather it could
be in news broadcastings over the Internet even on billboards, but at the same
time, it also makes readers to be less interested. The major problem is knowing
whether or not the information that your brain is processing is true and
accurate and can be trusted.
You really have to be sure about what you are reading and
whether or not it is from a reliable source or someone being bored and decided
to create some random story that would capture the attention of millions. There are many examples
of false information on the web such as medical symptoms. Many people when they
are feeling ill browse the web for their medical symptoms when they do find out
what the web tells them they get scared make a doctors appointment and turns
out to be something totally different and nothing to worry about.
Nevertheless, not all websites are to be blamed
for having false information. Some websites has legit information that can be
trusted and can lead you in the path that wont get you in trouble. So just
because you read something on the web don’t go spreading it right away unless
you know fully well that the information you hold is true.
I definitely agree with all your points that social media has decreased the quality of news and information. And the biggest argument being that today almost anyone can go online and write anything. I think you talked about a great example about medical websites and people self diagnosing themselves with false information they read online. I think it's very hard sometimes to even decipher what is the truth and what are just rumors or fake facts online.
ReplyDeleteGreat thoughts!
I completely agree with your outlook on this issue. Also, I love the analogy of self-diagnosis for medical issues over the internet. Another prime example of this along the same lines is the diagnosing and repair of automobiles. I have a close friend that owns a custom auto shop and time and time again he will show me examples of people who have taken advice from forums and damaged their vehicles. Taking news from unconfirmed sources is no different and can potentially be damaging, maybe not physically but in other ways. Great post again.
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