The Fake Around Us

 written by 10801 Kang Seo Rin

Today, we live in a society that is full of media. Every day we use social networking systems (SNS), watch the news, read newspapers or online articles. Although the information often helps us to know what we don’t know or gives us the correct information.

However, that is not always the case. 

Some of the articles give us the wrong information like articles that tell about rumors of celebrities. In Korea, this problem often occurs.

We usually call incorrect information fake news. Furthermore, fake news is what makes people confused. It can cause other social problems. 

What Is the Problem?

Fake news is a false or inaccurate story spreading on the internet, media, or SNS.

However, fake news is that most people don’t know whether this information was true or not. For now, technology that is related to fake news is high-developed. Also, the spreading speed of fake news is much faster than before.

It is very difficult for people (especially students) to figure out the truth. Students are still learning, so they might not know what is reliable or correct.

What kinds of social problems can come up?

For instance, according to the Korean government, there was fake news about COVID-19. Some reporters write articles based on wrong information saying the Korean government has manipulated the results of tests. So this fake news makes people confused a lot. Besides, the Korean government says that these days the fake news about coronavirus can be a much larger social problem.

What Should We Do?

To prevent or combat social problems and confusion, you need to learn media literacy. Media literacy means the ability to understand a text or article in the media and the internet. 

Media literacy also means to use media such as Google, YouTube, Twitter, and other websites or SNS properly.

Then, what is ‘properly’?

It means that people use their own SNS to express values, justice, truth, etc. For example, in Sweden, there was a case that is overcoming fake news.

According to the BBC, in 2017, Donald Trump said “You look at what happened last night in Sweden, Sweden!” After he said, many people wondered what happened in Sweden. However, the night before there wasn’t any terror or anything in Sweden.

That’s why Swedish posted on Twitter what happened last night for real. They shared their daily life with #LastNightinSweden. They finally could stop spreading rumors that there were terrible incidents in Sweden. After that, Donald Trump admitted his remarks were false.

As well as using SNS properly, you need to look at a situation from various perspectives. As soon as you encounter an incident, research the positive and negative articles or journals about it on reliable websites such as CNN or BBC.

If you do these things, you can live along with a massive amount of information without social problems created by fake news.