The Lightwave

Practical Insights for Skeptics & Users Alike…in (Roughly) Two Minutes or Less

Digital Illiteracy

Discussed yesterday, the "Liar's Dividend" concept refers to a phenomenon in the current information environment where the widespread awareness of misinformation and deepfakes can be exploited by bad actors to evade accountability.

When the waters become muddied enough, it becomes impossible to see the crocodiles lurking below the surface.

Deepfakes (and other manipulated forms of media) are only exacerbating this issue; and as creating them becomes easier and cheaper, the water gets muddier and muddier.

Study: Students Struggle to Spot Misinformation Online

A recent study reveals that high school students across the United States are alarmingly ill-equipped to evaluate any online information critically.

The largest investigation of its kind, conducted by researchers from Stanford University and other institutions, this study assessed the digital literacy skills of 3,446 high school students nationwide.

Though digital literacy is a well-known, well-worn topic, the extent of issues this study uncovers—combined with the coming of even greater, blur-the-lines-of-reality technology—highlights an urgent need for educational reform in the digital age.

The Key Findings

• Students struggled with all tasks related to evaluating online information.

• Over half of the students believed that an anonymously posted Facebook video, actually filmed in Russia, provided "strong evidence" of U.S. voter fraud.

• Inability to identify bias: A staggering 96% of students failed to recognize that a climate change website was funded by fossil fuel companies, significantly compromising its objectivity.

• Confusing ads with news: Two-thirds of students couldn't distinguish between advertisements and news stories on a popular website's homepage.

All in all, the study found that students often rely on unreliable indicators of credibility.

For instance, they tend to trust a website based on its professional appearance (easier and easier to fake), its domain name (particularly .org domains), or the content of its "About" page.

In addition, many students also equate the quantity of information with quality, failing to investigate the sources behind the information.

One critical skill that most students lack is "lateral reading”: the practice of leaving a website to investigate its credibility elsewhere on the internet.

(I would argue all of these issues are not isolated to a younger demographic, however….but alas, not the purpose of this post)

What to Do?

Well, that’s a good question.

In this paper, the researchers emphasize the urgent need for carefully designed, thoughtfully delivered, and rigorously evaluated digital literacy curriculum in schools. They call for greater investment in research and development of effective teaching strategies. But these words—carefully, thoughtfully, rigorously—don’t offer much meat on the bone of specificity, so to speak.

Perhaps more importantly when viewed through the lens of Gen AI, it becomes clear that traditional reading strategies are not just ineffective but potentially dangerous when applied to online content.

Instead, the researchers state, people need to be taught to “strategically allocate” their attention—e.g., perhaps by quickly investigating the source of information before deeply engaging with its content.

As the researchers point out, a digitally credulous citizenry poses a threat to national security and the foundations of democracy.

Reality should be the common pool we’re all drinking from.

But that pool is only getting murkier.

Thanks for reading.