New ask Hacker News story: Ask HN: How to talk to my parents and older family members about fake news?
Ask HN: How to talk to my parents and older family members about fake news?
2 by pedrodelfino | 0 comments on Hacker News.
Hi Hacker News, I really like this website. This is my favorite place on the internet. I learn a lot from the material and comments people post. Hence, I would like to ask for your help. Since 2013/2014, my parents and close family members started to use WhatsApp. They have been using the internet for a long time but smart mobile phones and Whatsapp are more of a recent phenomenon. Their behavior concerning WhatsApp use seems to be a general trend in Brazil regarding people from the Baby Boomer generation [1945-1965]. Unfortunately, there is a lot of fake news being shared on WhatsApp groups. Currently, it is hard for me to discuss ambiguous and politically sensitive things with them. Actually, everything seems to be more politically sensitive than it used to be 10 years ago which only makes things worse. My parents and older family members are too naive about the things they receive on WhatsApp. To make things worse, they receive suspicious material from friends and family members who are from the same generation and also tend to be less critical about what is going in their groups. I have a very good relationship with my parents and we have similar ideological beliefs. However, their behavior and beliefs are becoming more extreme and less reasonable year after year. When I present some official information, e.g. evidence about Hydroxychloroquine, they always have some link or video from an unknown and unreliable source to refute my point and endorse their own. In the background, the "Journalism Crisis" just makes things worse. They are really suspicious about what the main media says. Paradoxically, they are friendly about what the alternative media on their WhatsApp says. I do not know how to handle this. Do you guys have pragmatic advice? Do you have similar problems? How do you guys handle it? I do not want to give up on my parents. I do not want to talk to them only about amenities.
2 by pedrodelfino | 0 comments on Hacker News.
Hi Hacker News, I really like this website. This is my favorite place on the internet. I learn a lot from the material and comments people post. Hence, I would like to ask for your help. Since 2013/2014, my parents and close family members started to use WhatsApp. They have been using the internet for a long time but smart mobile phones and Whatsapp are more of a recent phenomenon. Their behavior concerning WhatsApp use seems to be a general trend in Brazil regarding people from the Baby Boomer generation [1945-1965]. Unfortunately, there is a lot of fake news being shared on WhatsApp groups. Currently, it is hard for me to discuss ambiguous and politically sensitive things with them. Actually, everything seems to be more politically sensitive than it used to be 10 years ago which only makes things worse. My parents and older family members are too naive about the things they receive on WhatsApp. To make things worse, they receive suspicious material from friends and family members who are from the same generation and also tend to be less critical about what is going in their groups. I have a very good relationship with my parents and we have similar ideological beliefs. However, their behavior and beliefs are becoming more extreme and less reasonable year after year. When I present some official information, e.g. evidence about Hydroxychloroquine, they always have some link or video from an unknown and unreliable source to refute my point and endorse their own. In the background, the "Journalism Crisis" just makes things worse. They are really suspicious about what the main media says. Paradoxically, they are friendly about what the alternative media on their WhatsApp says. I do not know how to handle this. Do you guys have pragmatic advice? Do you have similar problems? How do you guys handle it? I do not want to give up on my parents. I do not want to talk to them only about amenities.
