Yeah, I've given up on facebook. The only reason I don't delete it is for my radio show and spotify. But I never log on. It's awful.
Same. I was really sad when I realized a couple women that I really like were posting pizzagate stuff. I really thought they were smarter than that.
I think it's partially an age w/ technology problem. For so long, the older generations got news from reputable sources (newspapers/tv/news websites) so you believed everything. The ease of literally anyone posting anything and making it seem like it's true is harder for non-tech savvy people to read through the lines.
This is a documented phenomenon. Someone posted an article earlier in this thread about it.
A recent study published in
Science Advances found that Americans older than 65 – also known as baby boomers – are
more likely to share fake news links on Facebook than younger Americans born after 1996 (
Generation Z).
Survey data from 2016 showed that boomers shared nearly seven times as many fake news articles on Facebook than younger Americans between the ages of 18 and 29.
Social media and online content play a huge role as Gen Z’s source of information. According to a 2018
Pew Research Center survey focused on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, “95% of 13- to 17-year-olds have access to a smartphone, and a similar share (97%) use at least one of seven major online platforms.”
But only 7% of Gen Z college students found social media to be the most trustworthy news source. Instead, more than 50% of Gen Z students said they believe online newspapers and news sites to be the most trustworthy, Axios reported.
The gap between the sharing of false information among age groups could be because of Gen Z and younger Americans’ better understanding of social media and the distribution of online content, Axios stated.
Boomers share up to seven times as much misinformation online as Gen Z
www.voanews.com
I keep my Facebook so that I can keep up with my family members on the other side of the country without actually having to go visit FL (shout out to
@Jonathan Y and
@Colonel_Angus). However, it is maddening watching so many intelligent people blindly believing every inflammatory, click-bait story without even a cursory glance at the article. Much less any independent thought or basic research/fact checking.
I generally do not engage as most of them are unwilling to consider a different perspective or actual verified data that contradicts their view. However, sometimes I am unable to help myself. Especially if it’s posted by a family member whom I consider intelligent enough not to fall for the blatantly obvious Republican thirst-traps. However, it usually ends with me posting multiple responses filled with actual data and analysis from verified sources and them just going “but our Freedoms are being STOLEN”. Why do I even try
I can't even with my family on FB which is part of the reason that I deactivated it.
My personal pet peeve is people quoting medical studies without really understanding what the study actually said. Every once and a while, I get particularly peevish and point out all the fallacies of their argument by starting with the methods section of the study and go from there. I rarely feel that salty, but a few have pushed me.
gladly!
