Have you ever been on the internet, clicked on a website that looks interesting, and been immediately showered in malware? One minute you’re reading an article that seems credible, and the next, you’re questioning if you just fell for some conspiracy theorist’s fever dream? Welcome to the wonderful world of the internet, where not everything is as it seems! Luckily, Verified by Mike Caulfield and Sam Wineburg gives us the tools to outsmart the digital chaos. In the introduction and first three chapters, Caulfield and Wineburg deliver a crash course in surviving the wild west of the internet. It’s basically the digital version of “stranger danger,” except the strangers have sleek websites, professional fonts, and are really good at pretending they know what they’re talking about.
The authors start by explaining a nifty trick called lateral reading—a fancy way of saying, “Don’t just believe the first thing you read.” Instead of getting hypnotized by a site’s cool graphics or snazzy domain name (looking at you, “.edu” and “.org”), they suggest jumping around and checking other sources to see if the info holds up. It’s like being a detective, except your magnifying glass is Google, and the bad guys are misinformation and fake news.
Chapter 2 introduces click restraint, which is just a sophisticated way of saying, “Hold up before you dive headfirst into that first search result.” Apparently, search engines aren’t magical truth machines, and we’re supposed to actually think before clicking. Who knew, right? The authors’ point here is that we need to be a little less trigger-happy with our mouse and more Sherlock Holmes-y about what we choose to read.
Chapter 3 continues the detective theme, but now it’s all about figuring out who’s behind the screen. The authors emphasize the importance of finding out who wrote the content and what their agenda might be—whether they’re an expert or just some rando with a keyboard and an opinion, like yours truly. The idea is to follow the trail of breadcrumbs to figure out if the source is legit, or if they’re trying to sell you snake oil in a fancy digital bottle.
Overall, Caulfield and Wineburg offer some solid (and easy-to-apply) advice for navigating the internet with a healthy dose of skepticism. Basically, it’s a manual for not getting bamboozled by the internet—and who couldn’t use that?
Comments
2 responses to ““Wait, Don’t Click That!” – How Verified Teaches Us to Outsmart the Internet”
I have to say… you are a fantastically, engaging writer! I enjoyed your witty remarks based on the readings. I also agree that it is extremely important to think before you research. Most of the times, I will think of a question and start looking for articles or websites without truly knowing what I am looking for. Then I will get to the point of compiling my data and organizing it into topics and points of discussion, just to realize I have a lot of information that doesn’t have a whole lot to do with what I wanted to truly talk about. I think this goes into the SIFT method we read about. I did all the other steps, but I didn’t initially stop and ask myself what I am truly looking for and trying to research. I also found the google search engine results to be an interesting point of discussion, especially regarding how a slight change of wording will spit out completely different viewpoints on a topic. All in all, I loved your post! Great job writing!
I love your take on “Verified.” Your summary of the chapters perfectly captures the essential strategies for navigating today’s chaotic internet landscape. Click restraint, lateral reading, etc. are all amazing techniques that we should start implementing more. It even tells us that you can’t always trust a .org or .edu (even though we’ve been taught to always look at these types of sites). Chapter 3’s emphasis on checking who’s behind the content really hits home, too. It’s wild how many people can sound credible with just a good website. Their approach gives us practical tools to dodge misinformation and become more efficient online. The way you go about summarizing each part we read is entertaining and pulls you into the post. Your comparison of this to the digital version of stranger danger had me laughing. Great post!