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Questionable Content
One of biggest, most controversial aspects of using media in class is easily the origin of content. The biggest lure of using a social media platform is the ability for anyone to post anything for free. It’s easy to say ‘be aware of content origin’ but sometimes that’s not such an easy thing to do.
With the technology available today to anyone, sometimes videos can look really real. There are entire YouTube channels dedicated to debunking ‘unusual’ videos online. With so much questionable content available what can teachers do to make sure what they are using in class is the real deal?
· Poster: is it a recognized organization? Or is it John Doe in his basement?
· Subscribers: this is a good indicator of usefulness/popularity, usually good channels have large amount of subscribers
· Video quality: lower quality usually means less production value, and worth questioning.
Of course, these indicators are no fool-proof but it presents an excellent opportunity for a learning experience. Students are inundated with media every day, students need to question the content they are seeing. Even professionally made content should be questioned, content is made for a reason; it has a target audience and it has an intended message. Teaching students to question that message t is the best way to negotiate the potential questionable content of media.
Fake News
Not a new idea or word, but according to Collin’s Dictionary it was word of the year in 2017. So what exactly does ‘fake news’ mean? Well that seems to be the problem, it means different things to different people (Habgood-Coote, 2018). It’s often used as a catch-all term for problematic or doubtful information, but for many the meaning comes closer to ‘media lies’ (Habgood-Coote, 2018). With President Trump throwing around ‘fake news’ all the time, and the current Facebook news scandal, it has never been harder for students, and teachers to find true, factually acurate news.
Last year there was a ‘scare’ at our school due to a what we consider to be a ‘click bait’ news article that was making the rounds and upsetting many of the students. We actually had an assembly to the assure the students and explain to them exactly what was happening. I cannot for the life of me remember what the article was about now, but I remember being rather gob smacked that we had to have the conversation at all. What it did bring home however was the importance of addressing these ideas, of thinking about what you’re reading, and questioning it not just take it at face value.
This is a reality of our world today, with the ability of anyone to write and post content on the web it is very hard to discern what is true, honest, content. Which is part of the learning process, and at the end of the day the students are going to ultimately choose what they are going to believe in, and in some instance, find new outlets for their information; this is where flop accounts come it.
Flop Accounts
‘Flop account’, is a new terminology I ran across recently (yesterday specifically), it is an Instagram phenomena (Lorenz, 2018). Essentially a ‘flop account’ is a dummy account run by several teens, that is devoted strictly to discussing hot-button topics with other teens; abortion, LGBTQ issue, Trump, YouTubers, even breaking news (Lorenz, 2018). People post videos, photos, screenshots, memes, and everything in between drawing attention to the topic in an entertaining and interesting way (Lorenz, 2018). However, the main thing teens engage with these flop accounts is their strong distrust of news media (Lorenz, 2018).
These accounts work because it’s interactive, someone can post to the account then be quickly called out, agreed with, or even booed off. Many posters fact check others, which can keep them honest. Many teens are using these flop accounts to engage in the world, and that’s not a bad thing.
Of course, all those dangers of social media exist; questionable content, and fake news, but getting engagement in real world issues from teens, I would argue, if more the half the battle. The great thing, and sometimes the worst thing, is the anonymity of the internet. In this case, it lends itself to better honesty, and even if they are just doing it to entertain themselves, or call out nonsense, it’s showing a thoughtfulness of content and that is what we are trying to get.
Sources
Habgood-Coote, J. (2018, July 30). The term 'fake news' is doing great harm. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/the-term-fake-news-is-doing-great-harm-100406
Lorenz, T. (2018, July 27). 'Flop Accounts' Are the New Teen Thing on Instagram. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/07/the-instagram-forums-where-teens-go-to-debate-big-issues/566153/
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