How good would you say you are at deciphering truth in news pieces you find on social media? I mean, you’d probably consider yourself an expert, seeing as you’re an esteemed college student at the U with pristine research skills. But not so fast. In addition to the abundance of misinformed Facebook posts I find on my feed every day, much evidence supports findings that younger generations lack internet skepticism and don’t possess the research tools to accurately confirm or deny their beliefs about information found online.

Stanford came out with a study recently that, according to Sue Shellenbarger of The Wall Street Journal, says, “Some 82 percent of middle-schoolers [today] couldn’t distinguish between an ad labeled ‘sponsored content’ and a real news story on a website.” The study sampled 7,804 students from middle school through college, and reported that rather than looking for legitimate, trustworthy sources and properly checking facts, students based credibility on factors like the level of detail within articles and the sizes of attached photos, never minding that some photos were of sites and subjects irrelevant to the topic at hand.

At this point, Twitter, Facebook and Google executives and associates are acknowledging the problem and attempting to take action against vast internet misinformation and the current gullibility of young people. Facebook claims to have begun monitoring more closely what ends up on the site, pledging to block users who post misinformed or fabricated messages and stories from using Facebook’s advertising space. They also purportedly continue to support free speech.

Some examples addressed by The Journal of false information spread on Facebook include the proclamation that Pope Francis had endorsed Donald Trump and that the Clinton foundation bought $137 million in illegal firearms. After fabricated news like these started gaining traction, Mark Zuckerberg was forced to publicly defend Facebook against allegations that his company deliberately took part in the outcome of this presidential election.

While internet giants do their part in support of properly informing the public, we, as consumers of media, must step up as well. We all know that the public school system is slow to adapt on a widespread basis. Shellenbarger reports that today’s public schools are still focusing primarily on math and reading, leaving out the subject of so-called “media literacy,” which is intended to teach students how to research and evaluate online information properly. It’s become increasingly clear that this is a critical (and rare) skill in modern society. Additionally, teaching kids to be skeptical of information — whether it be found online, in print or on television — will likely benefit them and the nation in the future. They’ll be more likely to draw conclusions by getting second opinions, gathering additional sources and fact checking to ensure the accuracy of the information to which they’re exposed. It’s important to think independently and exercise a healthy level of skepticism while still employing good research skills, especially as learning shifts more toward uncensored, unregulated internet sources and less toward academically-approved information. People don’t get facts and figures from cross-referenced sources anymore. All too often, kids carelessly open their minds to untrustworthy sources and consider true whatever shows up on their Facebook “news” feeds. This must stop, for the sake of the future of good decision making.

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