How dangerous is online misinfomation to you?

Question

How on top of your game are you with your elders? Are you aware of misinformation in your household/family? How do you manage false information for yourself? Are you teaching kids to stay safe? 
So I’m barely 22 years old. I still live at home due to..life. +50% of USA kids my age are living with parents. Recently I’ve noticed that my parents (40-50 years old) are victims of false information online. It’s extremely concerning and it’s an added responsibility I’m taking on. 
When it comes to shopping online, correcting misinformation, researching things they tell me, etc. My mom was starting to believe in flat earth due to water staying flat on the edges of a cup (YouTube did this)..I explained it’s the chemistry in water that causes that. She was skeptical but in the end accepted it. My mom started taking spoonfuls of some chemical powder mixed with water to “cleanse” herself and got sick. This seriously worries me so much. 
 My dad was called about him going to prison for robbing idk what and that there’s evidence and he needed to pay 10k or cops will be here by the end of the week, he was freaking out and asking me to help him pay. I explained how it’s not true and to be weary of scams etc, he calmed down and understood. He was panicking and it was scary. 
They are now more weary of the internet and know not to click on any links whatsoever, not to give anyone money for whatever reason, not to try to shop from unknown stores, nor to believe everything that’s said because sadly people can be malicious, etc etc. I gave an example of those “homemade pregnancy tests” that omit harmful gasses and are fake, and people say things just to hurt others..and to not take things seriously and to please come to me first. I covered a lot with them. My heart feels heavy even writing this because it’s my reality. 
How do you combat misinformation? 
Should anything be done about the internet or does it all fall on the users?

Answer

Your parents sound naive. I’m 39, my husband is 43 (next month). We know how to use the internet, we know how to do research, we know about scams, we have common sense and don’t need anyone to explain what’s real or fake on the internet, etc. This isn’t about age, it’s about exposure and using your common sense.
As parents, we’ve taught our children how to use the internet and use common sense. We’ve also taught them how to do research and think for themselves. 
It’s not the internet, it’s the user. Some people simply don’t understand technology and some people are gullible; they believe every thing they see, read and hear.

Answer

I think it’s a matter of how gullible people are..

Answer

I am the same age as your parents and I don’t think it has anything to do with age.  I see young kids on here posting all sorts of misinformation they ‘learned’ from memes, Twitter, or YouTubers and they just think it’s fact.  And scams have been going around on the phone, TV and door-to-door for ages, so it’s definitely not new. 
With my kids, I’ve had to warn them about some things that are targeted towards their age group which are things like doing “challenges” and for my son in particular to watch out for misogynistic recruitment efforts.

Answer

What you described isn't something I deal with personally because my mom is more internet savvy than I am, but I definitely worry about the spread of misinformation as a whole and what that could mean for society in the long term. I think we're already seeing some pretty scary political ramifications because of misinformation and confirmation bias 😬

Answer

I am very much a skeptic, so there's not a whole lot I believe online. As one of my professors once said, the information you find online is about as reliable as what you would find written on a public bathroom wall. I've adopted that as my creed with regard to online sources. My husband is much the same. We're forever saying to each other, "This can't be right. It sounds off." We're usually correct in our suspicions. We're 40 and 58, if that matters. My parents, especially my mum, are skeptics too, so I really don't worry about them. I do worry about my kids, though. They're 29, 27, and 25 and we've had to reel all of them in a time or two when they've fallen prey to misinformation, disinformation, propaganda, conspiracy theories, and even satire. We just address it head-on with them. Two take it pretty well and are willing to do more research, the other not so much.

Answer

I think it’s just people being really gullible to find information. Like in Facebook there are so many people sharing articles that are either from years ago or have very false information

Answer

I’m sorry this is taking place. You sound incredibly worried about them and I get it can be an added stress to your life. I think people who didn’t grow up in the Internet era don’t understand why people would go on there and just lie or don’t understand how you can make so much money from lying. It can be super frustrating and overwhelming, I couldn’t imagine truly.

Answer

We don’t use social media, my parents (even grandfather in his 90s) are all good at finding sources that are reliable, getting to the evidence, and none of them use social media.
Conspiracy theories get more popular as people get bored, which is an increasing problem. Keep busy and productive so they aren’t tempted to go down internet conspiracy rabbit holes. Start a garden, write a memoir, learn a music instrument, exercise daily, learn to cook a few vegan/ vegetarian recipes for fun. Tell them to research David Attenborough and other naturalists and scientists who discuss climate change and the steps each individual can take to make a difference.

Answer

My mother in law believes EVERYTHING she reads on Facebook. When you have a solution, let me know.

Answer

I'm 30 and very aware of misinformation and scams. But I'm surrounded by people (younger and older) who buy into it all the time! We're constantly explaining why something is a scam to my husband's 73 yr old grandmother. She prides herself on being so much more intelligent than everyone else, yet she falls victim to a new "send me money" scam every other week. My in laws have some pretty strong opinions based off of a shitload of misinformation they've read in viral posts on FB. Stop that. My mother is the damn worst. She follows some random Youtuber who has maybe 5 followers total. He takes actual news stories (doesn't talk about the facts) just gives his opinions on the whole thing. Legit not a single actual fact mentioned. Just how he, personally, feels about it. She always sends them to me like "WATCH THIS! This is my friend." His word is not gospel, mother. Good jesus. Stay off YouTube. Do that for me. Or she gets her "news" from Tik Tok. 
Any time I read anything about anything, I start researching. Which involves multiple sources confirming the same fact. I mean more than just first page result sites and typically not news websites. They like to lie. Fox was in hot water after they doctored images and labeled them as "CHOP" in Seattle. Never trust the news flat out. Nope. I want multiple confirmations, from mulitple sources. Cross examination.

How dangerous is online misinfomation to you?

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