Tips from the Teenagers Tackling Coronavirus Misinformation

Life during this pandemic
has been really weird.

I'm a senior and this is definitely
not how I expected

to spend my last few
months of high school.

My coronavirus quarantine period
has been pretty hectic and chaotic

because I have 3 younger siblings.

My life during coronavirus
has been pretty boring.

I haven't been doing much.

I've just been trying
to stay home and social distance.

I've been at home
for more than a month now,

and I can definitely say I'm ready
for things to go back to normal.

Living through this coronavirus pandemic
has been tough on everyone,

but practicing social distancing,
if you're a teenager,

that's gotta be rough.

You're stuck inside the house all day,
you're going to school online,

and some really big life events,
like prom and graduation,

are completely different
than you imagined.

But some teens have been using all this
extra time online to do something

to help the rest of us by fact-checking
posts they come across

on their social media feeds.

MediaWise is a news literacy program
created by the Poynter Institute.

Its aim is to teach high schoolers

how to verify information
that they see online.

Full disclosure - I am one
of several journalists

who serve as an ambassador
for the program.

We have about 20 student
journalists on staff right now,

and they are spread across
the entire United States.

They help us debunk viral misinformation

that they're seeing on their own timeline
through social media storytelling.

So these teenagers are walking you through
how they were able to fact-check a claim.

They're not just telling you
if it's legit or it's not legit.

They are teaching tools

that professional journalists,
professional fact-checkers use,

and presenting it in a way
that's fun and entertaining.

We spoke with Angie Li, a sophomore
in Florida, and had her walk us through

how she fact checked something
that she found on TikTok.

I had no idea that there was really
this much misinformation out there.

I had always been under the impression

that people are going
to share the right things.

Why would they share
something that’s wrong?

But really, it came down to like,
sometimes people don’t really know

they've accidentally
spread misinformation.

So what did you do?

Take us trough the process
of how you debunked this.

So this is the original TikTok that I saw
that had the headline right here

that vaping reduces the chances
of contracting the coronavirus.

So one of the easiest things
that you can do is open up a new tab

and just do a quick little keyword search.

Just like the major headline words.

So, here we have
vaping reduces coronavirus.

In fact, immediately when you
take a look at this screen,

a lot of these headlines seem to be saying

the exact opposite of what
the original claim was.

That very first website says
that reporting of respiratory symptoms

by e-cigarette users suggest increased
susceptibility and/or delayed recovery

from respiratory infections.

It appears that it's not actually
making it any better

since vaping is a form of e-cigarettes,

and the coronavirus is a form
of respiratory infection.

So, I took a look at the second link.

This article is from the National
Institute on Drug Abuse.

We have to make sure that we're getting
this information from trustworthy sources.

This source said that emerging evidence
suggests that exposure to aerosols

from e-cigarettes harms
the cells of the lung

and diminishes the ability
to respond to infection.

So again, it does seem like
that vaping would, in fact,

make the coronavirus worse.

So actually, in fact, it seems like
that this TikTok is not legit.

That TikTok probably
was seen by lots of people,

possibly even believed by lots of people.

So that's really just the cost
of misinformation.

Sometimes people just start
believing the wrong things

and might start acting on it

because they believe that vaping
would help reduce the chances,

then maybe they'll start doing it.

So in fact, misinformation
can have some really deadly costs.

If something seems like
a little off or shaky,

then probably just don't share it.

Don't spread misinformation.

Over the past couple of years,
this teen fact-checking network

has declared more than 200 posts,
either legit or not legit.

If you don't know where to start,
they have some great insight and advice.

Advice for someone who's never done
a fact check, I would say...

The first thing I do is see
if it's coming from a credible source,

and if the person is using really extreme
language to elicit a response from you.

Don't just trust one source.
Trusting one source is a bad idea.

You need to make sure
you trust a lot of sources.

I've started to slow down
and not believe everything I read.

What we read shapes our worldview
and how we interact with each other.

Ensuring that the information
we're consuming and sharing is accurate,

not only benefits ourselves,
but benefits the whole world.

These teenagers, they're constantly
being targeted with misinformation

and constantly weeding through,
sometimes, the worst part of the internet,

and a lot of them are still doing it
with a smile in selfie mode.

And it's just been so cool to watch.

Teenagers are growing up
with more technology and social media.

Then old folks, like me,
can really understand,

but that doesn't mean
that they are not using this

in an intelligent and thoughtful way.

We have ambition and we have aspirations,

but we tend to be really
underestimated and undermined.

We're not always on our phones.

I mean we're usually
on our phones but it's helpful

because we're fact-checking
and doing things for people.

Just because we spend so much time online
doesn't mean it consumes us.

I just wish people knew how much
we truly care about our world.

I wish people knew
that we care a lot about each other.

We may express that differently
because of this technology

that we've grown up with,

but we really truly care about this world
and making it better for all of us.

So, let's learn a thing or two
from this new generation.

Don't spread fake news.

Keep it real!

Until next time.

I'm Hari Sreenivasan,
and this is Take on Fake.