Navigating the internet at an impressionable age, high school students are trying to build an accurate understanding of the world and achieve their goals while rowing against the current of misinformation. From consuming fake news to impetuously adhering to advice, youth are often blindsided by the eye-catching, sensationalist hooks aimed at selling certain beliefs and perspectives. As one’s decision-making often depends upon the information one encounters and how one perceives its validity, students’ adoption of fallacious knowledge can result in them taking actions unrepresentative of their true intentions. Consequently, they lose precious time and energy. To combat the aforementioned consequences, students must strive to scrutinize perspectives, conclusions, news, and other information circulating on social media.
Nowadays, social media serves as the sole channel through which students acquire information. While many get information through this outlet, it is important to note that misinformation is always present, and students should vet their sources. A 2023 YouGov poll sampling roughly 1,500 United States citizens employed the Misinformation Susceptibility Test, which was developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge and the University of Virginia. The exam presented participants with a set of headlines—some featured in news publications and others created by ChatGPT2—and asked participants to select the headlines they believed were real versus fake. Participants ages 18 to 44, 77% of whom spend more than two hours daily online for non-work-related purposes, only answered 60% of the questions correctly, scoring 15% lower than those older than 44.
Additionally, according to a 2024 study from on-demand consumer research company GlobalWebIndex, roughly 35.8% of an individual’s online activity is spent on social media. By spending a profusion of time on social media, people, especially students, are exposed to a variety of information coming from different viewpoints. It is inevitable that they will encounter misinformation, so students should strive to diversify their sources of information to cultivate their inner mental lie detector.
With artificial intelligence permeating every corner of today’s society, it has become increasingly challenging to discern the validity of events purportedly having occurred. Videos and photographs are no longer substantive means of proof, as they run the risk of being AI-generated. According to a 2024 study conducted by Google researchers analyzing roughly 135,000 digital claims about societal events, videos now contribute to 48% of misinformative claims online. Although the correlation between false claims and AI’s role in spreading misinformation is not 100% guaranteed, a link can be drawn. According to data collected by identity verification service Sumsub from 2022 to 2023, fraud by means of deepfakes rose by 1,740% in North America within that same time period.
When students refrain from verifying the validity of certain “evidence” on social media—especially in a world where people leverage technology as a mechanism for manipulating others—they risk developing a false conception of their world, resulting in them taking actions that detract from their goals. For example, when several social media posts in October 2020 inaccurately claimed there was a CDC study stating that individuals infected with COVID-19 always wore masks, some users, aiming to protect themselves from the virus, chose to stop wearing masks—a misinformed decision that had grave implications for their own and others’ health.
While seemingly innocuous in comparison to news, advice is a potent place for misinformation to lurk. On social media, especially, new trends constantly emerge, and influencers often propagate them with the underlying motive of making money, leading to a conflict of interest when it comes to ensuring the validity of their advice. In many scenarios, influencers have voiced subjective results that were blown out of proportion by viewers.
According to a 2024 study involving 1,000 Gen-Z TikTok users conducted by personal trainer app Zing Coach, 33% of the sample received most of their wellness guidance from the social media platform, and another 33% did not pause to check the accuracy of the advice they obtained—illustrating the scope of this issue among youth.
Looking at a specific example, the term “bed-rotting” gained prominence on social media as a means of decompressing after experiencing stress or burnout, according to Time Magazine. However, a medically reviewed article from the health and wellness blog Mya Care found that bed-rotting actually exacerbates stress and anxiety.
There are a myriad of ways in which one can use their resources. Choosing the methods that are most efficient and effective in achieving one’s goals requires diligently searching for the truth.
One could argue that instead of placing the burden of responsibility on students, social media companies should implement policies to significantly reduce the spread of misinformation. However, one must consider that misinformation is not restricted to social media. Regardless of the channel through which information travels, there is always a chance that it is invalid. Thus, students must always remain on guard, examining the validity of information by seeing how it holds up against known truths and various human biases.
Of course, education systems must play their role in spreading awareness about and emphasizing the importance of critical thinking tools. By drilling verification processes into students’ minds through assignments and projects, schools shape a great deal of students’ subconscious critical thinking capabilities. Additionally, by providing labels for these processes, they create cues that students can draw upon to consciously apply their ability to verify the validity of information.
There are many strategies and principles students can apply when engaging in social media, such as analyzing sources for bias. Although many factors influence information dispersal, students must ultimately take matters into their own hands—applying their knowledge to ensure they do not fall prey to misinformation traps on social media.
