Welp, we’ve finally finished up Mike Caulfield and Sam Wineburg’s Verified! I’ve really enjoyed this book, and am glad that I decided to buy it as opposed to renting it. It has shown me how many of the internet fact checking practices I used before were, essentially, time wasters. I know that I’m not the most knowledgeable internet user, but I feel more confident in my searching and verifying practices.
The second to last chapter (10) looks at emotions and how instead of shying away from them we should instead use them as a tool to aid our search processes. As a rule of thumb, if I see something online that I know comes with high emotions, I tend to ignore it until I can actually look at it later. I know that I’ll get upset over it, so I just wait until I know I can sit down and look at whatever is happening or being said. Because often when we see something that’s highly emotionally charged, we get sucked into and are more likely to believe or disbelieve something based on previous experiences or beliefs. I’m no exception to that. We are compelled by emotions. “Compelling-ness isn’t your shovel. But it let’s you know where to dig.” So use your emotions as a helpful tool that guides, not overwhelms research.
Chapter 11, the last chapter, deals with critical ignoring, something that I am often very guilty of. While it can be a great tool for preserving energy, I find that I lean more into the skeptic side of things. I don’t reshare, I don’t repost, and most often I don’t give it much thought. Unless I see something over and over, or unless it is important to me (coming back to the emotional level), I don’t give online information grabs much attention. I know that this chapter is saying that it’s a good thing, but I don’t know. I feel that I could be a little more proactive with my knowledge. I feel like I’d learn a lot more if I took the time to verify the claims that I see come across my screen. But I like my peace, and I like not getting funneled into every claim or ad I see. There’s a happy medium somewhere.
The authors acknowledge this, but the overarching theme of this book is “use the internet to check the internet.” Even when it comes to AI, the topic for the postscript of the book. Just like other sources, instead of relying on our own abilities to detect false information, we should go outside the source to verify the claim. All in all, I really enjoyed this book and thought it was a fun, immersing read.
Comments
3 responses to “And Scene! Last Chapters of Verified”
I completely relate to your experience with Verified! It’s definitely a game-changer when it comes to refining our online habits and giving us a whole new perspective when browsing the internet. I also found Chapter 10’s focus on emotions really eye-opening. We often forget how much our feelings can influence our judgment online, but using them as a guide rather than a barrier is a smart strategy. As for Chapter 11, I totally understand the struggle with ‘critical ignoring.’ It’s easy to dismiss things for the sake of mental peace, but I agree, there’s a fine line. It’s one thing to avoid being overwhelmed, but another to miss out on verifying potentially important information. Finding that middle ground between skepticism and proactive engagement seems like a continuous challenge, but it’s encouraging to know that the book advocates for using the web as a tool to verify the web.
I loved your thoughts on, using it as a tool. I often times find myself just ignoring what I see simply because of what its trying to get at, but as you said, it is so important to use that emotion in a positive reinforcing way through proper research and use of tactics and tools that the two authors have taught us over the course of the chapters.
I think your statement “use the internet to check the internet” is a perfect sum up of how this book went. I think your final thoughts on chapter 11 are valid, and I too agree that there is a happy medium with it. Not everything has to be searched, but when it comes time to searching, use the tools and tactics we learned.
I also agree with your statement about being more proactive with our own personal knowledge. With how much information is available on the internet it doesn’t take much to take the time to just verify the truth behind certain things. I know I personally do try to see if certain things are true or not but from the SIFT method all I really do is see what others are saying about something as opposed to getting down to the core of it all. You said, “I like not getting funneled into every claim or ad I see” and I totally agree. There eventually comes a point where it feels more like you’re obsessed with not getting bamboozled on the internet than expanding your knowledge library.