Ideas spread like disease: Let ’s treat them with the same caution | Nick Enfield

We will one day look back and be amazed at the reckless way in which people treated information on social mediaWhen you “like” a story online, you’re not just telling your social media followers that you like it, you’re also exposing them to that story. And they, in turn, can expose others, and so on. We are interconnected in ways we can hardly imagine, and our little online actions can have big consequences. That can be a good thing, if the stories we share contain valuable information or ideas. But what if the information is false? Falsehoods are dangerous, and when they spread they can cause real harm. Yet we seem blindly willing to share stories whose truth we are not sure of.Related:Everyone is biased, including you: the play designed by neuroscientistsContinue reading...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Social media Digital media Psychology Source Type: news