Fact or Fiction?

A Guide to Finding Honest Information

On a colorful gradient background sit words so false that they make your blood boil. You wince and scroll down. 15 likes. 3 shares.

We live in an age where information is exponentially more accessible than it has ever been. Not just can we consume anything we’d like via the internet, we can also easily create online content (E.g. this article). With such a quick onset of information availability, the growing pains that our cultures are enduring seem perfectly reasonable.

Suddenly, we all have to learn to be internet-media literate, a shockingly arduous challenge for many, particularly those that are still working on being technologically literate! If you or one of your loved ones are beginning your journey into understanding the internet, let these steps be a beginner’s guide.

Looking for honest information? Follow these five steps to improve your fact-checking prowess:

1. Be a Critic

Take a critical look at the websites you’re on. Do they look well-made? If you’re being slammed with pop-ups and getting lost in a confusing website’s sitemap, you’re likely in a sketchier corner of the internet. One of the easiest ways to determine whether you should trust what you’re reading is to become a website critic.