In the world of the internet, getting duped is far too easy. We’ve reached a point where we have to question everything we see. The truths we thought we once knew can no longer be trusted, and in order to figure out how to stop from being bamboozled I return our attention to our good old reliable internet driving manual- “Verified” by Mike Caulfield and Sam Wineburg, specifically chapters 8 and 9.
Videos Play Games?
Okay- so what does a video game mean? Unfortunately in this context, this isn’t Mario Party or the Legend of Zelda.
Instead, when you come across a video and you see that there is some questionable claim or information being tied to it ask yourself what do you know about the context? It is very easy to take a snippet of a longer video- pick the most suspicious bit- and then make a very absurd claim that could have zero relevance to the bigger context.
In “Verified”, they used the example of the secret hidden ballots from the 2020 election. The video that was circulated made it seem like there were hidden ballots under a table, but with more context you’ll find that this claim is very much not true.
Ads? Ads.
Who would have thought that companies sponsor content? Okay, obviously we all are aware that sponsored content is a thing, but when it comes to news articles on the internet that content can also be sponsored.
The whole point is to change your opinion on said company who is sponsoring, even if the opinion they want you to have and their actual agenda are polar opposites.
According to the book, there are regulations for this sponsored content in that these articled should in some way shape or form let people know that the article was paid for to be written in the way it was written. However, those regulations are mostly recommended.
Don’t expect to be straight up told the content was brought to you by such and such. It could be possible that the wording makes it seem like a collaborative work instead.
Keep in Mind
While those two chapters really make you think that you should be suspicious of everything, I want to bring up a point that was made earlier in the book. There’s also a certain point where not believing everything makes you as gullible as if you did believe everything you see. We just have to know when something could be considered too much or not enough.
Comments
One response to “To Believe or Not To Believe”
I was on the exact same mind level with you when it said video games. I got so excited, to then see it was still quite interesting to begin with just not as exciting as like Mario kart or astroneer knowledge and how they trick us. Choosing how they want to trick us through the idea of videos is wild to me, but not at the same time… until I saw how far it can go. Whether that may be swapping an old video to resemble new content or even finding AI generated people to talk about topics.
I always kinda new companies would be behind the mischievous little sponsored ads but to then skew your belief toward certain company ideologies is pretty intense!