Hygiene habits against junk news
Junk news that are news that are either fake or biased or immature or speculative. Junk news should not be shared without disclaimers. Or, even better, not at all.
The problem with junk news is not their existence, it’s that they spread. In that sense, they are similar to germs. We can’t see the threat posed by bacteria and virus. Most of us don’t quite understand how germ transmission works. Germs are everywhere and cannot be prevented. But we all contribute to their proliferation.
With germs, we have learned how to minimize the likelihood of becoming a host. We have developed habits. We don’t need to know how they work, but if we follow them, we know, we can mitigate the risks. Wash hands, don’t sneeze into somebody else’s face, wear a mask. We have also learned habits for computer viruses — don’t open email attachments from unknown sources, for example. Similarly, we can learn habits how to deal with junk news online.
This is my internet hygiene, or social media hygiene — my habits for sharing links online. The following rules do not rely on processing the actual content of the news. You cannot read everything and digest everything and check everything. Instead, the are based on the shape of the news, the headline, the way it is shared, and my own immediate reaction. These are practical rules for everyday use, not instructions for fact-checking.
First, and most importantly: Pause before sharing, always, no matter what the source is.
Second: Work against confirmation bias. If I agree with everything in the article, I don’t share. Also, work against other people’s confirmation bias. If an article is uncritical adored by others, I don’t share. It just means that someone else hasn’t been following these rules. Warning signs are links prefaced with one of the following: ‘This is brilliant. THIS. Must read. If you read one article today, make it this one. What X says.’ Another way to combat confirmation bias: If a link appears everywhere, over and over again, I don’t share, unless I think I have something to contribute. In other words: Don’t be the noise, be the signal.
Third: Avoid links that are designed to play to base desires. I monitor my emotional reaction. If there is an immediate rush of either joy or anger or vindication upon reading the headline, I don’t share. Pause (see above). In this category are headlines that are functioning like a cliffhanger (‘you won’t believe what happened next’). Also, if the message of is basically just to say that others are stupid, don’t share. Stop reading immediately. The same applies to links that are shared to claim superiority, to call others stupid, even if the article is not. The appearance of the word ‘stupid’ is a clear warning. Everything that is shocking or surprising or counterintuitive in an obvious way needs extra pause (‘why something bad is actually good’).
Also to mention here are links that promise simple answers. Warning signs are headlines that contain ‘mystery solved’ or ‘the answer to’, or ‘why X is Y’. Also suspicious are headlines that use trendy buzzwords, the typical word of the year candidates. Just some examples from recent years: fake news, post fact world, cancel culture. You get the idea.
Monitor other people’s emotional reaction, too. Sometimes a link is prefaced with something like the following: ‘I usually wouldn’t share this, but here I make an exception.’ It means the author is breaking his or her own rules. To quote John Potter Stockton: ‘Constitutions are chains with which men bind themselves in their sane moments that they may not die by a suicidal hand in the day of their frenzy.’
Fourth: Develop trusted sources. Most of the time, these sources will not be media, but individual persons. These are people who usually do not violate the rules one to three. People who provide content that has been checked and verified multiple times. Avoid news sites in general. Don’t follow news sites. Breaking news are only very rarely relevant. Aim for background and understanding and long reads. Don’t be a news addict.
Conversely: If someone violates these rules regularly, unfollow. This is particularly efficient after big controversial events, when everybody is upset about something. Who is sharing junk news? Who isn’t? These events can be used as kind of Litmus test for link sharing hygiene.
Finally: It’s fine to break these rules, occasionally, but not too often. After all, hygiene rules do not have to be followed every single moment of the life. I can get dirty occasionally. I do not have to be a germophobe. I do not have to wash hands every time I leave the bathroom. As long as I do it most of the time, it’s going to be all right.
