And this may be the most critical step of all to stop the spread of misinformation, as half of all adults in the U.S. say they get news at least sometimes from social media, and, as Pew Research Center reported, those who regularly get their news on Facebook and Instagram are “more likely than those on TikTok and X to get news from friends, family and acquaintances,” making what you share truly important.
Consider Your Source
Like professional journalists, Davis says you should consider every source of information—especially if you’re getting that information on social media.
“One really important thing is if you’re crowdsourcing information—or what’s called user-generated content—[journalists] need to be insured to verify not just the content itself, but the source of the information. That goes for regular consumers who find information online. Don’t just look at the content. Also, look at the source of the information.”
As Davis added, it’s a good idea to skeptically look at the source of the information, especially if you “see something that you really want to believe that seems very emotional and aligned with your beliefs, that’s a really good sign that you should maybe take a beat and do your research before believing or passing along the information.”
She also offered this analogy: Think of it like a phishing scam and how they try to create urgency and emotion to get you to act. “There can be those same techniques used with mis- and disinformation.”
Read Laterally
Not feeling confident about what you just read? Then it’s time to read across the spectrum of news outlets to find something in the middle—a task known as reading “laterally.”
Lateral reading, Davis explains, is as simple as “opening a bunch of tabs and doing your research across a lot of different sources.” But, as Friesem added, try to make sure these differing sources also come from differing perspectives.
“Look at three different sources that have different political or social agendas—that usually looks like The New York Times, Fox News, and Washington Post,” Friesem said. “I would try to diversify so that I’m not hearing just one voice or a similar voice to see if it’s really how they’re describing it. Because journalists are people too and coming from their own point of view and agenda. So, if you have the three media outlets that don’t share the same ideology, it’s always good to compare.”
Change Your Screen Color
Still feeling like you’re susceptible to believe anything you read? Try changing your font or screen color, which puts you into literally a different state of mind.
“Studies indicate that putting yourself in an analytical mindset makes you less prone to believe conspiracy theories or disinformation,” Davis explained. “For example, in one study people read something in a hard to read font, which provoked their analytical mindset and then they saw how prone they were to believe disinformation. So doing something like that can help you be more skeptical and be less likely for your emotion to take over.”
Consider Subscribing to Newsletters
Rather than allowing yourself to get overwhelmed by all that information, Davis suggests paring things down to easy to digest nuggets of information that you actually look forward to every day.
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