Digital Smarts - The News on Fake News Isn’t Good

According to a Slate.com article by Alexander Burgoyne and David Hambrick, human brains are wired to retain only the gist of information consumed, creating difficulty in remembering the source of news and whether it is flagged as fake or not. Exposure to fake news could even lead us to “remember” things that never happened. Other research has shown that people are vulnerable to false memories even when they are explicitly warned that they may be exposed to misinformation.  This might undermine efforts by Facebook and others to curb false news on social media, a problem particularly prevalent during the presidential election and certainly something you might want to talk with your children about as part of your ongoing discussion of digital literacy and citizenship.