“Baseball hasn’t forgotten me. I go to a lot of Old-Timers games and I haven’t lost a thing. I sit in the bullpen and let people throw things at me. Just like old times.” – Bob Uecker
I have dabbled in a little bit of genealogy over the years, and have enjoyed posting old family photos and stories on Facebook as a way to preserve our family’s past for future generations. One thing I have learned is that both my maternal and paternal sides have a history of longevity. My grandparents lived into their eighties, with one great-grandparent living to the age of 99. I’m hoping to make it to 100 myself, but I want it to be longevity filled with good physical health, and maybe more importantly, great mental health.
This week’s blog assignment is called “The Grandmother Situation.” A student’s grandmother had posted misinformation on Facebook, and when the student corrected her grandmother in the comments, the grandmother unfriended her! So what is the best approach to helping a friend or relative when they post false information online?
The most important tactic would be to keep the interaction as positive as possible. I have seen firsthand how a difference of political opinion has forced two of my lifelong friends to go their separate ways. When a person is passionate about something, emotion plays a huge role in their actions. So the first thing to do when fake news is posted online by a friend or family member is to reach out to them on the phone, or through a text message or private message, and let them know as politely as possible that what they posted may not be true. This will give them an opportunity to explain their rationale in a one-on-one setting. Who knows, perhaps the information is actually correct, and you are the person that didn’t have all of the facts (it may be a good idea to do some quick fact checking first before contacting them). Calling them out publicly is a last resort, since it could lead to embarrassment.
If the person’s post is already generating a lot of comments, then there may not be enough time to reach out privately. In that case, it may be wise to reply in the comments section with correct information, as long as that action is done as gracefully as possible to not make the poster feel bad. It’s best to include a supporting hyperlink in the comment, so others can follow up with fact checking on their own.
Overall, the best advice is to be civil and show empathy. Shadanay Urbani is a writer and researcher with First Draft, a non-profit organization that works with communities, newsrooms and organizations to help promote ways of fighting the spread of misinformation. In a September 2020 article on WUWM.com (the NPR station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin), Urbani said, “A lot of misinformation circulates among well-meaning people who are just trying to help. Don’t blame the individual. Instead of saying ‘You’re stupid for believing this vaccine doesn’t work,’ you could say something like ‘I’m concerned that this group is trying to mislead people about vaccines because they’re trying to make money by selling supplements.’”
Finally, a great piece of advice that was shared in one of Professor Gillmor’s lectures was to copy the news story headline and do a Google News search. On the Google search results, the News tab is the second one over from the All tab. This is a great way to see if the same story is being reported by other reputable media. Just as many of us have taught our grandparents to use smart phones for navigation, or Facebook to keep in touch with the family, a Google News search is one more lesson that could save them from posting false information online.
