False news about science, misinterpretation of certain data and its dissemination are another virus that we face, in times of crisis we need certainty, evidence and guarantees, so it is necessary to implement a critical vision to better deal with it?Inevitable infodemic that surrounds us these days.
This is not a trivial problem. Coronavirus fraud and fake news circulate faster on social media than real data from official sources. In recent weeks, for example, people have shared information that drinking too hot drinks eliminates the virus and that with the arrival of summer in the northern hemisphere, they will be safe from the risk of contagion.
- To this is added another equally problematic aspect.
- Many times we find seemingly scientific studies that we take for granted because they come from an organization or a supposed university.
- But there is something that we must understand.
- The haste and sometimes even the greed of companies.
- Invalidate.
- Endure or represent some of these works.
An example of this is the constant news of suspected vaccines, many of us cling to this data for emotional needs because we want solutions and data that encourage hope, we share unconfirmed, we attribute the truth without applying the filter of critical thinking and, almost without realizing it, we fall back into the corrosive trap of fake news.
Noam Chomsky points out that the emergence of fake news is disappointing, after all, we end up having some dissatisfaction with institutional structures, which can be a danger in the current situation, one may end up distrusting even official and rigorous scientific publications. Which would be troubling.
A study conducted a few days ago by dietram A scientists. Scheufele and Nicole M. Krause of the University of Wisconsin-Madison stand out: People need to be better informed about scientific issues, something like this necessarily means knowing how to differentiate between false and false. the true and the reliable of the manifestly incoherent.
We need to train our eyesight to detect prejudice, we must motivate ourselves to go beyond a sensational title that seeks, above all, the longed-for click bait.
Similarly, we need to develop a mental and emotional filter that allows us to separate the science of pseudoscience, a filter that tells us that with certain dietary supplements we will protect ourselves from COVID-19, or that this disease originates in the 5G network.
Of course, we are not all scientists, but detecting fake scientific news requires a rigorous approach on our part to identify them. Doing this is a matter of responsibility and necessity at the present time. These strategies can help us filter what is valid from what is inconsistent, questionable, and clearly incorrect.
When we open our social networks and encounter this vast ocean of information, two things happen: the first is that the media competes with each other to spread the hottest news, the second is that we choose the main one and share it, it is a mistake.
To identify false scientific news we need to know the source, sometimes it is the journalists themselves who interpret a study completely wrong, can they tell us if there is already a vaccine?When, in fact, the investigation in question is still in its first phase of testing.
Therefore, always keep in mind that all the information can be reinterpreted by others, look for the original study and news and analyze them calmly.
Do you distrust the headlines? Those who sometimes use emotional factors or sensationalism?That’s the first tip on fake news.
The media that uses these titles do so as a clickbait and for us to share news and spread rumors. Let’s remember that sometimes there are party interests behind fake news.
Timothy Caulfield, professor of health policy and law research at the University of Alberta, points to something interesting in an article: people are more likely to pay attention to degrees that convey something negative or positive and almost miraculous.
To detect false news about science, we must not get carried away by the emotional, rigorous, reliable and valid studies do not use emotions, are concecis, objective and provide a lot of data and details.
Again, let us remember the need to look for the sources of this medium that tells us something. All news can have different interpretations. Therefore, you must search for the original references.
We’ve already pointed it out. When clicking and reading an article, be demanding and intelligent, we need to search for links, sources, references and data from original sources, even if they are in other languages.
Another strategy to detect fake scientific news is how many media publish this information, if you enter this information into a search engine and find that no one else has posted anything about it, it is obvious that it is a fake news.
If there is one thing that defines our current situation is immediacy, when a sensational news is published it can take a few minutes to viralize, however, even 20% of those who shared it did not bother to read it, compare it and evaluate whether it is reliable or not.
We must be aware of a fundamental aspect, a detail more decisive than ever: to detect false news about science you have to have a will, a critical eye and time, it is not enough to read the title and we cannot simply follow the opinion of a journalist.
Let us expand our vision, let us be like Sherlock Holmes before the data we receive, especially let us be demanding with ourselves.
We all deserve to be respected for the information we receive, we need real information, and something like that requires being active, critical and responsible, and not sharing what hasn’t been tested before.