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People older than 65 share the most fake news, a new study finds

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Re: People older than 65 share the most fake news, a new study finds

#181

Post by [deleted] »

devy wrote: post #143
dandare wrote: post #110

Anecdotal evidence: I remember how my 65 years old dad changed from a large-minded, world-traveling retired professor to an avid consumer of fake news in the span of fewer than two years. Yes, it was a shock, but most of all I am mortified that this could happen to me as well when I get to his age.

> Yes, it was a shock, but most of all I am mortified that this could happen to me as well when I get to his age. I find this incredibly uncomfortable that the OP and you are attributing the spreading of fake news to ageism. No, I don't believe so. Since your evidence is an anecdote, I have many many more anecdotes to disapprove that assessment.

[deleted]

Re: People older than 65 share the most fake news, a new study finds

#182

Post by rayiner »

SkyMarshal wrote: post #132
dev_dull wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stay unplugged from social media and especially mainstream media and you’ll be just fine.

Data journalism and long-form deep investigative journalism is fine, or least less bad. With the caveat that data journalism that illustrates past or current events is fine, but that which tries to draw correlations or make predictions should be taken with a grain of salt. Short form journalism I ignore, or seek the primary source (like a president’s speech or similar).

I don't trust long-form investigative journalism one bit. It relies heavily on anecdata and emotional narrative to manipulate you into a particular view.

Re: People older than 65 share the most fake news, a new study finds

#183

Post by mrguyorama »

ams6110 wrote: post #123
rfinney wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmmm. Time magazine, the morning newspapers and CBS/ABC/NBC evening news was much more middle of the road than today's Drudge/Huffpost, CNN/Fox and google/reddit (and HN) type ideological bubbles. More straight news. Back farther in the past, the many competing newspapers were very partisan. Perhaps we're just back to that situation.

I remember when CNN launched. News all day was a novelty; no other TV network was like it. I was a kid, but it did seem to me to be much more conservative (in the sense of not overtly sensational) and "straight" news at the time. I guess today's CNN and their much more pronounced left-wing orientation is just a response to the right-leaning stuff from Fox? Or it just seems more left-wing now in comparison.

CNN mostly only seems "left wing" because America's Overton Window is so far to the right

Re: People older than 65 share the most fake news, a new study finds

#184

Post by asdff »

djohnston wrote: post #130
dandare wrote: post #110

Anecdotal evidence: I remember how my 65 years old dad changed from a large-minded, world-traveling retired professor to an avid consumer of fake news in the span of fewer than two years. Yes, it was a shock, but most of all I am mortified that this could happen to me as well when I get to his age.

it's probably less likely for younger people because we grew up with this form of media.

They are worse off. News for them is headline deep; no one reads articles from reputable publications for info anymore, they'd rather have a handsome talking face on youtube 'break it down' in 20 minutes what would be a 4 minute nyt article containing the same factual points and none of the wishy-washy 'analysis.'

The more you read about the world, the better things stick in your head, the more connections you make, and the more you know. If you leave the critical thinking to some internet celebrity with no incentive to be credible, you end up being coddled from a lot of the news and get basic facts wrong.

Re: People older than 65 share the most fake news, a new study finds

#185

Post by eli_gottlieb »

hunter2_ wrote: post #145
ams6110 wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember when CNN launched. News all day was a novelty; no other TV network was like it. I was a kid, but it did seem to me to be much more conservative (in the sense of not overtly sensational) and "straight" news at the time. I guess today's CNN and their much more pronounced left-wing orientation is just a response to the right-leaning stuff from Fox? Or it just seems more left-wing now in comparison.

Probably the latter: neutral, unbiased, centrist viewpoints are now given -- by folks throughout the entire spectrum -- a "left" label.

Yeah, I've never heard CNN call for seizing the means of production or soaking the rich in taxes.

Re: People older than 65 share the most fake news, a new study finds

#186

Post by Dirlewanger »

dandare wrote: post #110

Anecdotal evidence: I remember how my 65 years old dad changed from a large-minded, world-traveling retired professor to an avid consumer of fake news in the span of fewer than two years. Yes, it was a shock, but most of all I am mortified that this could happen to me as well when I get to his age.

>I am mortified that this could happen to me as well when I get to his age

The Internet was such a monumental shift in how society and civilization as a whole functions, and in such a small amount of time, that unless you grew up with it, it should be expected that whole swaths of demographics have no idea how to successfully navigate it (especially when there's next to zero centralized resources on its many pitfalls).

Re: People older than 65 share the most fake news, a new study finds

#187

Post by cgriswald »

burtonator wrote: post #66

I've been thinking of building a 'fake news' app to embarrass people like this who share fake news. The idea is to have a legitimate looking site. The link would be something like 'thebostonreporter.com' where it looks like a real news URL and the content ALSO looks like a legitimate news site. The site would create news stories that confirm the bias of people who tend to share fake news. For example, "Hillary Clinto…

A few things: First, you probably don’t have to flip the content. They read the headline and click share. If they click the content they read the first paragraph and skim. Just put a note at the end of the content. Second, I don’t think shaming works. I’ve seen people called out on obvious nonsense. If they’re embarrassed about it, it doesn’t stop them from sharing the next thing. Third, at best they’ll probably just learn they can’t trust your URL.

I’ve got a friend from high school who is constantly sharing nonsense. I’ve also seen him be the victim of a scam. He just doesn’t have the capacity to think about what’s real or not, probably because of a combination of low IQ and high anxiety or paranoia. I can’t imagine any amount of shame helping him. Might make him worse.

He may be a special case or he may not. But I’ve seen plenty of others be blasted for posting obvious nonsense and at best they are embarrassed but go with an “ends justifies the means” defense because the article talks negatively about some great right- or left-wing devil.

Re: People older than 65 share the most fake news, a new study finds

#188

Post by Buldak »

The researchers found that Republicans shared more fake news than Democrats, but they suggest that is only because recent fake news has been largely directed to support Trump (i.e. that age-susceptibility to fake news is otherwise ideologically neutral). If it turned out that conservatives as such are more susceptible to fake news, though, that might help explain why the elderly are more susceptible insofar as old people tend to be conservative.

Re: People older than 65 share the most fake news, a new study finds

#189

Post by bilbo0s »

strken wrote: post #164
bilbo0s wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, that's the great conundrum. You consume media no matter where you get it, so not getting it from one place or another is not really gonna help you avoid "fake news". What you see on blogs is no more reliable than what you see on FOX, which itself is no more reliable than what you see on youtube. It's pretty much all rubbish a lot of the time. So yeah, you stay away from mainstream media, then you'll likely be c…

One thing I've noticed about the blogs I read is that they usually provide sources, while even reputable media outlets like the NYT or WSJ will often publish articles about the results of a new study without naming it or linking to it. Having a source or sources is a key differentiator between good news, news that misinterprets or exaggerates the data but is still loosely related to reality, and completely fake news.

>Having a source or sources is a key differentiator between good news, news that misinterprets or exaggerates the data but is still loosely related to reality, and completely fake news...

Depends on the quality of the sources. It's been my experience that, "evidence", and "sources" that blogs and mainstream media cite is oftentimes completely ridiculous. Mainstream media will cite a blog, or a blog will cite a youtube video. "Studies" are cited that are not peer reviewed. Even the "peer reviewed" studies are riddled with errors. Don't even get me started on things like the late unpleasantness involving the Intelligencer, barely science at all, and the NYJM, critical to the cite record.

Nowadays we just have to face the fact that there's a lot of garbage out there. It's just the world we live in now. So consume it, but be aware of what it is you're getting. Most of it is in no way reliable information.

Re: People older than 65 share the most fake news, a new study finds

#190

Post by asdff »

dev_dull wrote: post #113
dandare wrote: post #110

Anecdotal evidence: I remember how my 65 years old dad changed from a large-minded, world-traveling retired professor to an avid consumer of fake news in the span of fewer than two years. Yes, it was a shock, but most of all I am mortified that this could happen to me as well when I get to his age.

Stay unplugged from social media and especially mainstream media and you’ll be just fine.

Are people even plugged into mainstream media, barring talking heads on fox news, cnn, or youtube? Even on reddit, which purpotes to be more informative than a youtube comment section, it is plainly obvious the bulk of the commenters don't read the article beyond the linked headline. There is nothing sinister about repudable publications and their written articles.
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