xpost: Teaching kids to recognize opinion in a "but it's on the internet" world

[Maus]

Sorry about the length. I'm not quite sure how to articulate what we are looking for.

 

Background: My DS is 9.5 and we are having some issues with him seeing things on the internet, and to some extent, hearing things from older kids/adults, that he takes literally, as fact. Then he lies awake at night worrying. A couple of examples:

 

At church, there is a young man in his twenties who lives with his parents because he is functionally more like a young teen (maybe on the spectrum, I don't know). We gave this kid a ride to a church campout, and on the way, got talking about Disney. The kid said that Disneyland Paris was going out of business, and he knew that because he read about it. My son got really upset. When the young man was no longer with us, we explained that there had been a rumor, but that Disney had adapted to the local culture and now is doing fine in Paris. He had a hard time with that because the kid had spoken like he knew what he was talking about.

 

Another time, DS came across some YouTube videos that "showed" giant whirlpools opening up in otherwise calm water. When he showed them to me, they looked clearly doctored, but he can't see it. He now worries that one will open up and swallow us all.

 

He has many bedtime worries based on things he's seen or heard. When he was younger, it was easier, because he'd take my (or DH's) opinion as more authoritative than random strangers, so we could just say, "That's not true." But now we just a couple of grownups offering our opinion which isn't any more valid than "the guy who made the video."

 

The questions:

At what age do kids make the shift from taking the world at face value? Does it come with the Logic stage?

 

Are there any resources out there to help teach that people commonly state their opinions as if they were fact (and sometimes create visual "proof" to back themselves up)? And how can a person can learn to sort that out?

 

Thanks.

[SKL]

I think it varies widely from person to person. Myself, I was an early cynic, and it always surprised/disturbed me that my peers believed stuff like the Brady Bunch was remotely realistic (yeah, I'm that old).

 

The internet today is similar to the TV news of yesteryear. I always point out (sometimes to seasoned adults!) that when the news says "Congressman X says ___" all that means is that Congressman X said it. It does NOT mean it's a fact. As much as we'd like to believe journalists vet their sources and try to be objective, that ain't the reality. So I tell my kids that. The internet is even less reliable because people can say things anonymously. So I point that out as well. And of course everyone has their own point of view on things and tends to ignore what doesn't support their belief. Not of course to say you can't ever believe anything, but you have to filter everything. Just telling kids this should at least make them aware of when it's time to switch on their developing BS filter.

 

Maybe it would be helpful to talk about relative reliability of information gathered. For example, you have "I saw it and touched it myself" vs. "primary" and "secondary" sources, etc. Maybe give some examples of how you (or someone you know) was misled in real life by believing too easily, or of some "fact" found on the internet that you can easily prove wrong.

[LittleIzumi]

Can you show him some of the silly stories posted online as facts, and then do your own research together to refute them (or visit Snopes to show that the Internet disagrees with itself)?

[jenbrdsly]

Hmmm... Have you tried teaching the term "urban legend" to your child? I've never thought of doing that with my own kids, but it might be helpful for us too! Then, you could say "That's an urban legend" and they might start nodding knowingly.

[Five More Minutes]

I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for, but Media Smarts has free graded lessons and activities designed to help students think about the who and why behind media messages, as well as how to evaluate the veracity of content.

 

The Lamppost has a presentation titled Smart Research (PDF) aimed at high school students, but it could be adapted for a younger student. It has some good steps and questions for evaluating the reliability of online stories.

 

The Center for Media Literacy also has some excellent resources, but they are a bit harder to wade through and extract from, imo.

[slackermom]

DD is 7, and she has a pretty good handle on this, but we have actively worked on it.

 

I have covered it mainly through our history studies, especially Irish history. We have read many, many books on Irish history, from a variety of perspectives. Depending on when it was written, or who the author or publisher was, or who the audience was, we can see some differences, and we talk about them.

 

DH is constantly pointing out how advertising works, and DD has gotten pretty good at recognizing fact from opinion, and when and how something is being "sold" to her.

 

DD has been taking a writing class with a librarian this year, and he has talked about reliability of sources, and showed them how to use an encyclopedia.

[mathwonk]

Older kids make the same mistake. I assigned homework in an advanced math class and when i handed it back corrected, one kid complained that he couldn't have been wrong because he had copied his answer off the internet! sure enough someone had published a book of answers to the problems in our book, he just hadn't got them all right! maybe your child would benefit from that story.

[Maus]

Thanks for the input, everyone! I'm actually printing out the thread for ready reference, and bookmarking the links. I talked to him last night about sources and he seems like that, so that should be a good base for all these great suggestions.