Filtering out fact from fiction

Young people nowadays share voluminous information on the social media – about the places they eat, where they go on holiday, the books they’ve read and the movies they’ve seen. They’re sharing news and information they think their circle of friends and family will be interested in. It comes as no surprise that a Bangkok University survey found that Facebook has become the most popular source of news for young Thais.

Many young Thais are active in the social media, reflected in the finding that over half of the 19 million Facebook users in Thailand are aged between 18 and 34. Equipped with smart gadgets and online access on the go, the younger generations now tend to access news via online sources. And when they spot news that interests them, they are likely to share it with friends. This behaviour is somewhat different to that found among older Thais, who still mostly rely on conventional media – newspapers, radio and the free television stations.

Kids have learned differently from their parents, and at a much faster speed. They have learned how to gather news and information quickly, and in the process they only read and view what they’re interested in. While they continue to share a lot of content online, they have also become “editors” who pick and choose news to share with their peers. And all of these habits have helped them develop social learning habits. Undoubtedly they are more acquainted with the new media.

Familiarisation is one thing, but younger people who develop skills on Facebook should also learn how to turn the online experience into a real-life experience. Receiving news on Facebook might be completely about their own preferences, but there is also a need to learn to listen to different ideas, to become more open-minded and more tolerant of other views and opinions. 

The growing popularity of news online has prompted conventional news outlets to adapt to cope with the decline in readers and viewers. Apart from adjusting their business models to survive in a time of rapid change as the younger generations increasingly shy away from them, they inevitably bear greater responsibility in reporting the news. A report either on TV or in a newspaper nowadays is watched or read not only by the target audience. It tends to be repeated – and is thus more likely to become corrupted – by numerous comments and postings on Facebook. Well-researched, accurate and impartial news report should therefore be even more vital when they are being read and disseminated by a group that is still mostly at the learning age.

Online media are not a wholly negative phenomenon in this respect. They can be quite productive if every party – especially the news outlets – strive to make them conducive to truth and learning. These platforms can be places where young people learn about morality, corruption, ethics and any other issue of importance to society.

Older generations who did not grow up chattering away on computer tablets or smart phones can still play a role in teaching the young how to get the best out of technology. And it should not be an arduous task to instil good values when we know where the younger crowd “hangs out” and how they receive their information.