Week 6 part 2

Today in class we did a recap, which I like recaps because its good to track your progress, and to remember things you may have forgotten. We talked about the difference quickly between disinformation and misinformation, which to summarise is that disinformation with falsely making claims intentionally, where misinformation is more a misunderstanding.

As for the question in how I look at news, I definitely feel a change within how I look at media. Like myself and others in this class, we kind of stop and think a bit more on what it is we’re consuming. I do feel like I am more likely to retweet or share something from a recognised source, than from a smaller account commenting on that issue. Tom made an excellent point in class about being reserved in sharing political content and trying to digest it, which I can also relate to. It is important to get as much information as you can I feel before weighing in on debates in order to prevent the spread of disinformation, though I know I myself have sometimes spoken on issues I do not know the whole story about, and have had to correct myself later.

I have been thinking on my own following list and confirmation bias, and I find myself culpable. It is rewarding to feel that you are right, but I’ve been trying to push that bias and look at other content that may challenge me in a healthy way. While I don’t follow people who are deliberately right-wing or anything that is going to make me tear my hair out, I do follow more neutrally aligned sources or sometimes search them up as a form of fact checking, seeing what two opposing idealogical news sources may be saying about the same topic.