Fake news, online scams, deepfakes, and more threaten our security and online identity. People behind these activities are after eliciting emotions and, more importantly, desired actions to their ploys. To be honest, we have become either careless or fearful receivers of these posts. We can sometimes be too lazy to validate information or too excited to share whatever is trending. Similarly, we can be too scared to click on the most valid links for transactions we initiate.
If validating what is true is a challenge for adults, what more for kids? Children these days have direct access to social media apps, search engines, and online video sharing platforms through their devices. And while these are handy for many things like school research, there are no automatic tools to validate the results they get. Equipping children with the smarts and capability to identify credible online information is an imperative to train and protect not only their young minds but also future-proof their responsible ways online as they grow older.
- Define credibility. Explain why you are teaching them to validate data and use reliable sources. Provide examples, such as your instructions on what they should do when they get calls about supposed family emergencies. Why are you asking them to call the house phone or at least the other parent or another sibling? The same thinking applies to cross-checking information. It should be standard to double-check data and depend on truly reliable sources. Discuss examples of credible sources that they can relate to, such as your go-to daily newscast, newspaper, and websites.
- Slow down. A long day can make anyone impatient. Students may rush getting homework done so they can unwind early. Impart to your kids that patience is a valuable virtue toward authenticating data. The top search engine results are not always the dependable ones. Give examples of trustworthy sources for news, government policies, and other subjects. The encyclopedia you grew up using for school now has an online version that bears fact-checked information. Instill the practice of checking on at least three sources for data they want to utilize.
- Go the extra mile. Webpages have “About” sections that provide their organization’s history and purpose. Some authors, scientists, and other subject matter experts provide their professional biography. Anybody can build a webpage and claim to be knowledgeable about a subject. Be thorough about your credibility check and get to know your sources. Have news organizations featured them? Are their statements corroborated with facts or by reliable another source? Does their background description wave a red flag about possible bias?
- How about AI? Artificial intelligence (AI) is redefining many things, including our access to information and misinformation. Chatbots may look like a quick solution to any question, but inform your kids that AI pulls from numerous online sources, including non-validated ones. Additionally, chatbots may not necessarily provide the latest information on any subject, as these tools only acquire from the data fed into them. For example, if the latest developments on a fluid political situation have not been integrated, this information will not be included in the results it will give. We are learning about AI and the significant ways it will change the way we do many things. Include your children in your journey to learn how to use it responsibly.
- I’m here! Assure your children that you can help check if their sources are credible. Let them cite their sources so you can have these handy when you review their work. Your knowledge and awareness on the subjects they are studying about is an advantage. This also gives you an opportunity to give additional sources of information to their work. Don’t forget to check in when their papers are graded.
- Go old school. Libraries still serve their purpose. Books provide good starting points for research and are dependable sources of information. Children can complement their online research with library work. Doing so can renew or strengthen their love for books, too!
- Spot checks. If you ever encounter deepfake videos where a person’s face or body has been digitally altered to appear like someone else to spread wrong information or used maliciously, show them to your children. Their reaction can help you gauge their judgment of what they see online. Share any news you see about their favorite celebrities or sports personalities – especially ones you are certain are fake. This way you train them to think twice about what they see online.