Teenagers Tell Us About Their Relationship With News
Back in September we asked teenagers, What is your relationship with news? Nearly 400 responded, almost all of them mentioning that their main source of current events is social media.
While that was no surprise, what many adults may not realize is that all that time “staring at our dang phones” (as one student put it) also makes teenagers hyper-aware of how the attention economy works, and how often it serves them false or misleading information.
Across their responses, they spoke of how and why media — online, in print, and on TV — treats news as a product, and how that shapes the way they think and feel. Some said that made them not want to be informed, but many others shared their strategies for navigating the noise.
In fact, last month we posed a companion question for teachers, and were heartened to see that many of the practices they recommend, especially “lateral reading,” were mentioned by students as well, perhaps reflecting the growth of media literacy education. But, as both teachers and students point out, staying reliably informed requires constant vigilance. And as the election looms, the Times reports, disinformation “has never been worse.”
Below we explore the patterns we noticed in both student and teacher forums, and share excerpts from some of our favorite responses. In honor of the fact that this week is Media Literacy Week in the U.S., we are also posing a related challenge for teens, and borrowing from the good advice offered here to help.
Thank you to all of the students who participated, and to the teachers who brought their classes to respond. At the bottom of this post, you can find a list of the schools whose names appeared in the forums again and again.
Please note: Comments by both students and teachers have been lightly edited for length and clarity, but it is our practice for this feature to retain the voices of participants by changing as little as possible.
_________
Though the vast majority of teenagers said they get their news primarily from social media, many acknowledged problems with the habit.
Like most teens, I spend way too much time on social media. My main source of news happens to be Instagram. I do read articles from NPR and the New York Times, but not as often. Instagram is an interesting place to get information on current events. There is so little moderation on the platform that blatantly untrue posts are allowed to accrue millions of views.
I, along with many other young people, don’t get my news from journals or news websites, but from channels and influencers on social media.
Much of the language in science journals, political speeches, or official documents can feel inaccessible to teens, so we instead opt to find someone who understands the information better. Also, a lot of information in journals can be locked behind a paywall. The rise of subscription services has contributed to young people’s drift toward getting news from social media.
However, navigating true and false information on social media can be extremely difficult. Media literacy and lateral reading is becoming increasingly necessary for anyone navigating the online news space.
Most also said that following news at all is stressful, depressing and exhausting.
If I had a choice I would ignore all world and national events, because the only time that I hear about those they are just awful things that I can’t do anything about. Even if it is local I probably couldn’t do much to make a difference no matter how much effort I put because I’m just one person. There is just so much bad in the world that I am unable to fix, and I am aware that even if I don’t know about an issue it doesn’t stop it from happening, but if I don’t know about it, it won’t cause me any harm. Right?
I receive a lot of news through social media everyday. I also hear about current news from my parents. If I’m being completely transparent, hearing about the news stresses me out. If you look back 100 years the only news you heard about was from the local newspaper and word of mouth. Now we carry all of the most current worldwide news in our pockets and have full access to it 24 hours a day.
I don’t think the human body was supposed to know about as much news as we do, because it wasn’t until very recent times that we’ve had access to all of these platforms and information. As much as I like to be informed, I also think that being cautious about how much news I am consuming is important.
When my mother asks me “Why don’t you keep up with the news?” I have to explain to her that my generation grew up with seeing too much of the world before we could handle it.
Hearing a news report does tend to initiate a feeling of dread or worry before I even know what it’s about, since typically the report is on something harshly negative. Whether it be a shooting, an elimination of a group’s rights, an act of violence, or any other form of tragedy, anytime I’m being told “Here’s a news report you should look at,” I find myself immediately filled with dread.
Handling these types of reports is exhausting, especially as both a teenager and as a person of several marginalized groups that are constantly affected by what I hear on the news. Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean I push it away and block it from my awareness. Even though I’m hurt with what I see and read on a constant basis, I still believe it’s important to be aware of the very real social and political issues which will affect myself and others either now or in the future. It doesn’t matter if what I read are “adult problems,” they are still problems that need to be taken seriously instead of just the funny interesting drama of big celebrities (even if those can be intriguing).
Ideally, I’d like to stay informed like the model citizen; however, in reality, I never really know what’s going on. I often ignore the news because I don’t feel motivated to read an article on my phone; I don’t watch the news on the TV because I don’t have cable; and I don’t watch the news on YouTube because I like to watch other things. Like many others, I simply “breeze over and not really understand” the headlines I glimpse at.
I find it overwhelming to choose from the ocean of news as to what to care about, what to read about, or what to fight about. I don’t want to be walking in the dark, but I also fear being put on the hot-seat of a riled crowd. I want to form a wise opinion to support the common good of society, yet am unsure of how to go about it.
We were born into a housing crisis after one of the largest terrorist attacks, after that, we have had scandal after scandal and a global pandemic. Being sad and mourning the world is tiring and reading the news fuels the fire. The overall feeling is trapping. With distrust for the government, it can just feel like you are alone in the world. We as a generation haven’t come to grips with the ability to be alone and so we would rather be connected.
— J.G., LA
Perhaps that’s why some seemed to prefer their current events filtered through humor.
I’m banned from social media til my parents take their last breath. Until then, I watch YouTube to obtain information. But my favorite, and only worthy news source? The Daily Show, providing more information in 10 minutes than CNN in an hour.
I’ve been watching it since I was 14. It’s the Daily Show that told me about George Santos when I didn’t understand why they’re talking about him, while giving context to why the heck is Biden wearing a MAGA hat? (Answer? Sharing a laugh with an extremist.)
It’s not just that it’s (somewhat) factual that makes it superior, but the fact that I can laugh at the most idiotic atrocities of the world. It doesn’t feel like doomsday when I watch Jon Stewart brings out his “Huh?” graph as he plays Trump’s speeches, and I don’t have a feeling of hopelessness — that literally every news channel feeds into — when Troy Iwata judges the vice-presidential debate. (“Tim Walz had such an honest sincere look that said, ‘America really needs this’…. and I found that desperate.”)
The Daily Show makes me feel hopeful. The Daily Show doesn’t influence how I understand the world as much as how it makes me perceive it. And I choose to perceive it with optimism, that our world (with a worsening climate, increased polarization and decreasing trust in each other) can and will get better.
— Yakira, Plainsboro, New Jersey
I think young people consume news and social media very differently than adults. I feel like social media makes things that are pretty terrible into one big joke and most kids just think its funny.
I get my info through social media, mostly first finding out about events through other people making jokes about them. When this happens, I usually (at least I hope it’s usually) do some reading about the target, thoroughly reading one or two articles and skimming many others. I like to think this is enough.
Misinformation I see is usually already debunked and being laughed at by the time it reaches my eyes.
In general across comments, teenagers were notably sophisticated about how algorithms and the attention economy work.
X, Instagram, the medley of articles Google arbitrarily decides I’ll fancy: Social media, where I go to edify myself on the current goings-on of the world, has transformed “information” into a product.
As ‘consumers’, these platforms are gung-ho to sell us the freshest, most enticing morsel of gossip and water-cooler talk. Rather than pondering the implications of the geopolitical sphere, or the world-shattering revelations and implications of our fractured democracy, all that nuance malarkey is abandoned in lieu of quickly digestible headlines. Proverbially in one ear and out the other. The news cycle has us running in circles like hamsters. We’re not truly going anywhere.
Personalized recommendations of false or misleading information can distort judgment — like lies tailored to each individual — making it harder to access reliable facts. Social media platforms act as vast collectors of personal information. Unfortunately, we cannot be certain that our personal data won’t be leaked or traded, and such breaches are increasingly putting users’ data security at risk.
As teenagers, my friends and I rely on social media as a primary source of information, which greatly influences the way we form our values. I believe that the process of discovering one’s identity in society is sacred and private. Yet today, the influence of others’ ideas and trends on the development of teenagers’ personalities is magnified by social platforms. It’s not an exaggeration to say that social media is unconsciously homogenizing our generation’s growth. We must develop critical thinking to break out of this digital “echo chamber” of information.
I recently watched the TED Talk, “The Danger of a Single Story,” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. This relates to what our social media shows us. If you lean left politically and only interact with progressive posts and influencers, you’re likely to see only that type of content in your feed.
Paid celebrity messages, influencers promoting political agendas, passive-aggressive texts — each are facets of an age dominated by misinformation. I receive the majority of my news through popular social media platforms: Instagram, Twitter, and similar apps.
A 14-year-old with nearly unrestricted internet access is not ideal, but as I encounter many perspectives, some logical, others absurd, they shape how I think.
— Ronin Reznik, Albuqueruqe, New Mexico
The problem with social media being a primary source of information is that anyone will post/say anything to gain a following. In just a few seconds of watching a video, we feel educated enough to discuss and form opinions. I view this as a problem for the younger generations. We are not fully informed and jump to opinions very quickly. Influencers like to make it seem like they are being real and relatable, however everything is just for a video.
I get all my news from social media platforms, although I always try to remember that most of the stuff I am watching is misleading and has an underlying agenda.
Since TikTok is designed to recommend videos that you would like based on your viewer history, it is confirmation bias in a way since you mostly end up seeing videos, creators, and opinions you like. This is why I tend to maybe see something on TikTok and then look into it further on a moderate news website.
I think as media has become more accessible, our generation, which still comprises many easily molded young minds, may be falling into radical politics. Media has also fallen into this radicalness which is a primary contributor of misinformation. In turn, I guess I’m just a bit worried about how polarized our generation might become.
Many questioned the biases of mainstream news outlets.
I am very suspicious of sources like FOX, CNN, ABC, NBC, and any other huge news networks. Even if they say they are neutral, they all lean left, or right, leaving out key aspects of news stories that independent journalists usually cover fully.
I think adults don’t understand enough how little most young people care about politics. Yes, we all have our own opinions and pay attention a little, but 85% + of high schoolers I know (including me) have no real reasoning on our stances besides the way our parents brought us up.
— Adán, MN
My relationship with the news is flat-out awful, for good reason.
News outlets at their core, are looking to be profitable businesses. A news source needs viewers to sell ad space to pay for costs and even become profitable. News can appear to be boring and slow if the stories aren’t eye-catching. This will cause viewership to drop, so the companies have to compensate — make the most interesting news, rather than the most truthful and insightful news.
Social media has a tendency toward sensationalism and spreading misinformation. The most divisive and controversial news gets elevated regardless of truth.
In mainstream news however, coverage is often biased to support the status quo and appear “unbiased,” presenting both sides of a political issue as equally valid, and platforming both in debate.
This presents a problem for issues such as the recent misinformation about Haitian migrants allegedly eating people’s pets in Springfield, Ohio, which has been platformed on many news outlets despite a complete lack of evidence.
Recently, I’ve noticed that news companies care more about being right than being correct. CNN and Fox are considered the biggest news channels, and the difference between these two today and what news used to be is critical: CNN, Fox News, and others care more about making their political party seem right than have their information be true.
The truth is slipping away from us, it has become something you have to search for instead of something that should be right in front of your face. News used to be simple, the broadcast would provide the facts and the viewer would form an opinion. Now, the news does all of this for us and even leaves out some key details so that we view the story one way or another.
Manipulating the truth is not news. For instance, Fox News recently paid 787 million dollars to settle a lawsuit concerning lies about the 2020 election and the events of January 6th. This should not be a problem that we have, and these corporations need to work harder to be true, so news can be news again.
There is no neutral position anymore; even pop-culture news relates back to politics somehow. The news should be the one thing I can trust, but oftentimes it is not. Therefore, I do not look at the news. The news is often fake, and trusting any source is hard these days. It can change the way we look at our political system and world, which makes us have distrust for our government and societies.
But they also told us about the media they rely on — and how they navigate among sources to make sense of what they’re seeing.
I get my information on current events through a combination of news outlets and social media. I have an account with The New York Times, which sends me breaking news updates throughout the day. In addition, I sometimes scroll through YouTube Shorts for fun. When I come across an article or Short I’m unsure of, I follow three steps to check its authenticity.
First, I check the comment section — sometimes, other users will point out misinformation or disinformation.
Second, I look at the source. If it is from the New York Times, I check the author’s credentials and whether the piece is classified as a journalism or opinion piece. If I am watching YouTube Shorts, I look at the account name. If the account name has a verified star and does not have any add-ons behind the name (Ex: NHL_realaccount), I can usually trust it.
The third step is Googling the story. If a reliable source covers the story, I can be sure that it is legitimate. These three steps will help me know that my information is accurate.
— Max, George Washington Middle School
My information about current events primarily come from TikTok (I know … it’s really bad), Reddit (really bad as well…), the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and from other people. My school provides its students with subscriptions to the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, which really helps me stay on top of news.
Sometimes if I read about a topic in one source, I like to read about the same event from a different newspaper just out of interest about various perspectives on the same event.
I like to read the Economist because I feel that it’s pretty unbiased and also is very information-dense. I also like to use the website “AllSides” because it gives a bias rating for articles so I can read what both sides are saying on a subject.
I think that this has helped me be able to be less affected by the polarization in America. It’s helped me learn that if you only look at one side then you’re never fully able to understand an issue.
I mostly get my news from NY Times and Wall Street Journal. I like to stay up to date on global affairs, like the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas wars. Even though these are sad topics, the news rarely overwhelms me. I recognize that I am immensely privileged to not be facing the challenges that I read about. So reading the news fills me with empathy and gratitude — but does not overwhelm me.
I really trust MSNBC and NPR, and enjoy exploring work by journalists like Peggy Noonan and Fareed Zakaria (I really like his Global Public Square Sunday special). I am most suspicious of Fox News because it spreads so much fake news. Also, I like to view a mix of fact and opinion. I enjoy reading the Wall Street Journal opinion column, but read w/ a grain of salt because it’s the opinion section. I think I and my classmates handle misinformation well.
Unfortunately, students sometimes call anything that we disagree with “misinformation.” My grandparents, however, believe anything. I’ve informed myself about the election through NY Times. I also like to watch candidate interviews, to remove the filter of journalists’ bias. By the way, the AllSides Media Bias Chart is a great site to explore media bias.
I get my news from the Stocks app on my phone which has the general big news and finance headlines. When I find something intriguing on the app, I then search it up on Google if I want to know more. I don’t like news channels because I feel they are too biased toward certain political beliefs rather than trying to inform the public without political interference. These biases create political gridlock which is getting us nowhere. I find it hard to trust any social media platforms like TikTok or Instagram unless the creator has a good reputation for honesty.
A lot of my news comes from my parents as well but whenever they tell me something I do my best to fact check it before I form an opinion on it.
News has helped me understand foreign issues around the world and how they are evolving and I can use that knowledge to my advantage when investing in companies and in myself.
I generally inform myself on broad subjects through social media apps such as Instagram or TikTok, mainly thanks to HugoDécrypte, a French journalist and YouTuber who tells the news in a quick and easy way with short form content.
However, when I am particularly interested by a topic I’ve quickly gone through on my feed, I dive into some more research thanks to some trusted information source such as BBC News, The New York Times or some French online articles on Le Monde or Le Figaro. I try to get a source from a left leaning journal and a right leaning journal to obtain more trustable information.
I usually get news from my parents or from Christian outlets like Focus on the Family’s Daily Citizen, or Not the Bee. I trust Daily Citizen and Not the Bee more than mainstream news media like CNN or NYT (sorry), because mainstream news media claims to be fair and balanced, but they are very biased in favor of Democrats.
Not the Bee and Daily Citizen are biased in favor of Christianity, and therefore Republicans, but they don’t pretend to be nonpartisan, and I get news there that mainstream media won’t talk about. Not the Bee is also rather sarcastic, which I appreciate.
Growing up in a house with split political opinions, I can watch one report of a story with one parent on one channel, then watch that same story with the other parent on a different channel, and be told completely opposite things. This has helped me identify biases and be able to pick out the misinformation from the news.
Exclusively watching Fox News or CNN will never give the viewer the full picture because these outlets are highly opinionated and biased. By checking multiple sources, seeing commonalities and differences between the sources can help paint the full picture.
I subscribe to the NYT newsletter and often spend my breakfast reading the daily politics newsletter. But when I go on Instagram the moment after finishing that email, I see a different reality. Different news agencies posting different wordings of the same event. People with different opinions arguing in the comment sections. Blue hearts and red hearts all over the place.
Whenever I see an especially outstanding comment — no matter from which side — I share it with my friends. Maybe I am surfing just to see these arguments.
While I much prefer getting my news from credible sources such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, etc., I constantly find myself scrolling through social media, and stumbling upon headlines that instantly grab my attention, and are often exaggerated.
On social media, I typically observe that comments people leave under news posts are extremely one-sided, and lead to arguments that don’t go anywhere, with little to no evidence backing up any claims made.
I think the rise of misinformation is extremely dangerous, has been accelerated by the digital age, and poses a significant threat to American democracy.
— Connor, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
I get my news from credible sources, such as the New York Times, CNN, and the Washington Post, as well as my local and school newspapers. A good way to tell if a newspaper is credible is to cross-check from multiple points of view. I tend to cross-check my news, especially sensitive topics, with other news articles and sources.
— Nathaniel, Fayetteville, North Carolina
I usually don’t follow domestic news (referring to the Simplified Chinese region). One sad reality is that I don’t trust what the authorities say. Due to the one-party system, we mostly only see positive reports and what they want us to see.
But the internet is different. While we can’t discuss politics, we can talk about other news. Especially on Bilibili, where many people publicly report others by name, and they rely on the power of netizens to help. Although there’s a chance that some of these videos may be inaccurate, we can still get different perspectives from the comment sections. In this regard, I am often amazed by the diversity of netizens —they come from all walks of life and could even be witnesses to the events.
Several walked us through recent examples of their attempts to find the facts behind a news story.
The day of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, I remember gathering around a restaurant’s barside TV. I’ll never forget the image of the former President — fist raised, blood dripping from his ear. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Wanting more information, I opened X on my phone and watched as comments and posts flooded my screen with capital letters, exclamation points, and frame-by-frame analysis.
The people of X couldn’t decide on what actually happened — opposing political parties very evident. Someone had gone so far as to edit footage to try to prove to the online universe — many of whom had not seen the original video — that the shooting wasn’t staged and couldn’t have been a political tactic.
Confusion over July 13th represents the fundamental problem with how we get our information. It’s difficult to verify what’s true, and it’s a herculean effort to form an original opinion in a world where edited footage and comments shape our perception of news before we have a chance to digest it.
Most of us associate reliability with a blue check mark, but that became a problem when X started selling verified status for $8. If we can’t trust verified accounts, where can we turn for objective information?
Online forums should be places for constructive dialogue, not fake news. As upsetting as it is to accept, misinformation is part of our society. What would it mean to find our political voices in a world where misinformation isn’t just widespread, but encouraged?
I didn’t find out about the Trump shooting of July until my friends mentioned it to me, and then, not even thirty minutes later, I began to see memes about it popping up in my feed. This (in my opinion) could be both good and bad for me. On the one hand, most of the memes are slanderous, so it’s easy to tell what really happened because they exaggerate it so much. On the other hand, this information may still be biased, sometimes even more than some of the news outlets because the person making it has no obligation, legal or moral, to the consumers of the information.
I think the most important thing about news is telling the whole story. Even if all of the facts reported are true, if there is a part of the story missing, then the people will get a skewed view of the situation.
For example, Harris keeps saying in the debate and her rallies that Trump is the only president who left office with more people unemployed than when he came into office. The context is very important in this case because correlation doesn’t mean causation. The context and the time is also very important. I try to see the intent and the whole story behind the news article and question all the facts. There is not a single source that I can completely turn my brain off and trust exactly what it is saying because misinformation is dangerous. Even if most people agree it is true, we have to think independently and judge for ourselves.
I believe that accurate news can be found if you know how to find it. The biggest issue I’ve seen is people getting information from only a few sources and taking information at face value.
One recent example are the claims made by former President Trump regarding FEMA funding and disaster relief, which have been proven to be false. Despite this many people continue to quote him because they failed to check his statements.
If you get all of your news from Fox or CNN then you are very likely not getting the full story. News must be cross-referenced and you must look at both sides of a story before forming your opinion, otherwise you risk falling victim to misinformation.
Teenagers pointed out over and over that adults are fooled by misinformation more often than they are.
While I believe teenagers tend to give into misinformation and disinformation, I think that adults and those who get their news from news channels or the radio are still just as susceptible to giving into ‘junk food’ information.
For example, in late 2022 there was a “TikTok trend” going around called NyQuil chicken, which stemmed from a TikTok of someone covering a pan of chicken with NyQuil. News outlets took the clip and ran with it, hurrying to warn parents about another dangerous TikTok challenge.
The thing is, the video was fake. If you were to actually watch the original TikTok, you would see that the entire thing was satire. The video is full of sarcasm and ridiculous instructions. And there were never any documented cases of someone going to the hospital or dying from the challenge.
This proves that adults and the news are just as likely to succumb to misinformation as any teenager.
I think adults have a really hard time grasping the ability that social media has to warp minds and opinions. As often as they ridicule us for it, they’re mostly the ones who fall victim to it.
I can’t blame them for it. They didn’t grow up with the constant access to news and media at every given moment of the day. That’s why I think that my relationship with the news is objectively better than my parents. I’ve grown up navigating the news and even had to sit through classes that showed us skills to spot misleading and fake news.
My father is obsessed with TikTok. He refers to his time on the app as “TikTok Time.” He loves to watch videos of people building structures or funny animal compilations. However, when videos of news or stories pop up on his feed he instantly believes the information presented. It’s not because he is a gullible person. He just doesn’t bother to fact-check the report’s credibility. Though much of the misinformation he watches doesn’t do harm and is corrected, some misinformation can spiral causing assumptions to plague our society.
They also expressed frustration that adults don’t respect social media as a viable source of information.
TikTok and Instagram are definitely not always reliable sources and it is important to fact check anything that you learn from them, but they aren’t full of lies either. I think that adults don’t give enough credit to young people when it comes to being able to identify misinformation. Also, many of my friends and other people in my age range get news from sources other than social media. We have New York Times subscriptions, some of us watch the news, etc.
Adults are too quick to disregard the news that young people bring to the conversation, and they shouldn’t be, especially if they get their news only from Facebook.
Adults often don’t get that we get our news from social media, not TV or newspapers. They might think we’re not informed, but we’re just getting our information in different ways. We’re also pretty good at spotting fake news because we’ve always used the internet.
Many noted that A.I. is exacerbating the problem.
AI can make it hard to discern reality from falsehood, like the recent Taylor Swift endorsement of the Republican Party, for which she had to dispel the myth herself. It can be hard living in an era where truth and fiction collide and it’s easy to outsource the responsibility to the platforms or the creators. While the platforms do have a role to play and can assist with tools like user verification, fact-checking, etc., we all have a part to play. It is incumbent on all of us to inform ourselves on facts from sources we trust, not just social media.
With the rise of AI it’s been harder and harder recently to tell what’s real or not. For example, the other day I saw something, that had it not been so ridiculous I would have thought it was real. It was Trump and Biden in a boxing match.
Some gave shout-outs to their teachers and parents for showing them how to navigate the news.
Through my education, my teachers have taught me how to check if sources are reliable/credible by checking background information on the source, then using sites such as Snopes, Fact check.org, and Media Bias/Fact Check.
I think those who take research courses in high school are good at distinguishing reliable from unreliable information. However, most of my peers will trust anything they see online. I think I have become a lot better at knowing the difference, mainly because of certain classes I’ve taken in high school like APUSH, Lang, and now Seminar where we have done research papers and other research that requires the use of reputable sources.
I have learned about where to find more reliable sources during my time at New York summer school, and I shared this knowledge with my family after returning to China. My mom is particularly interested in hearing them from me. She urged me to read news from the New York Times, CNN, and various Chinese news outlets. Different news sources present multiple aspects of an event; some focus on individual perspectives while others emphasize governmental viewpoints.
The key lesson I’ve taken from this experience is that no perspective is entirely accurate or objective. Even the most reliable news channels can overlook the voices of minorities. Therefore, I strive to remain skeptical when consuming information, and resist critiquing topics I don’t fully understand.
I’ve grown up in a left-leaning family that values staying well-informed while maintaining a balanced perspective. My parents often emphasized the importance of consuming news from a variety of sources, including online platforms, national broadcasts, and state-level news. I often cross-reference information and absorb anecdotes from different perspectives with the sole intention of broadening my understanding of relevant events.
— Aidan, The Govenors Academy Byfield MA
What did their teachers tell us when we asked how they are approaching information literacy?
Most noted that being a savvy news consumer is difficult not just for students, but for all of us. And A.I. has “changed the game.”
Students often think that they are very good at finding information online because they are digital natives; however, they are impatient and not strong researchers, so the information they find is often the most readily available, not the highest quality. They also don’t spend much time reading their results while evaluating a source or fact-checking, so if important information is not within the first couple of sentences, they will probably miss it.
Giving students a lot of time to practice skills like lateral reading not only helps them get better at things like fast fact-checking but it also helps them build a bank of resources that they trust and want to revisit. Resources provided by the News Literacy Project have helped me make lessons that are informative and timely.
Everyone needs to get better at fact-checking and media literacy. AI-generated deep fakes and misinformation is a problem that will impact all of us. I think it would be great if parents honed their information literacy skills alongside their kids.
— Gretchen Metzler, High School Librarian
It’s challenging to get kids to actually read the news — beyond the headline. Heck, it’s challenging to get anyone to read the actual story. We are given a false sense of having “read” the story because we read similar headlines from so many different sources, but if you want the nuances, you have to read.
Assume that kids are going to hop on Google and go for the first hit they get. Instead of scolding them, encourage students to fact check the information they find to be sure it’s accurate. Take the time to show them headlines for a big news story with two different sources — a more liberal offering and a conservative one. Then encourage them to hop on the news sources they use to see how their headlines might compare to, say, those in the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal.
AI has changed the classroom forever. Well, actually, AI has changed homework and deep research forever. In some ways, getting students to do the work in class, under some supervision, allows the teacher to work as a coach to ensure that students are practicing securing reliable information and that the work is their own.
Teachers are doing the best they can to stay abreast of the information as it comes, but we are only human. School systems are woefully behind the curve when it comes to be on top of how to educate students for what they need right now — so be patient with us. We’re trying our hardest to create thoughtful citizens.
— Jen Billings, English Teacher
The biggest challenge, honestly, is that teachers are often not on the same page with their own understanding, and especially not with their willingness to devote class time to this. There is sometimes an assumption that kids already understand, when really they are still developing the skills and need regular reminders to ALWAYS use their evaluation skills.
Because the access environment has changed, we are constantly changing our approach. Ten years ago, Google showed the same results for the same keywords, no matter who was using it. Now we also have to educate students about the “AI Overview” and what’s going on with that. Students are actually a little better about evaluating sources than they may have been 5-6 years ago; I think they’ve run into enough misinformation that they are now truly aware to be careful.
I do worry about their use of social media outside of school. We’ve noticed sometimes that even very strong students will still be forwarding misinformation through their social media, particularly when it’s along partisan lines for things they really care about.
— R.C., High School Librarian
I teach 9 and 10 year olds that anyone can write anything. Just because it’s written doesn’t make it true. I’ve taught them to question who is telling the story and to think about the intended purpose of the text. Who is writing and why are they writing what they’re writing? I’ve taught them to look up the publisher’s website and see what their branding message is. We do the same for video content creators.
I think what I do with 4th grade is just the beginning. Being a savvy consumer is a journey. Knowing how to find the information about who is behind the message is an important first step. One of the things we look at when trying to determine the legitimacy of the information in a video, for example, is who is advertising on their platform and what their messages are about. Even 9 year olds can get a sense of their agendas by looking at who is sponsoring the messengers.
When I started, we assumed that media was fair, balanced and truthful. Media was nonfiction, and leaving biases at the door was the norm. Now, it’s almost 100% persuasive.
We need to be looking behind the curtain.
— HellyShoes, 4th and 5th grade teacher
But they also recommended resources and habits that can help — resources we saw students mention as well.
I teach an explicit media literacy unit in my 5th grade library class. We discuss propaganda, media bias, misinformation/disinformation, echo chambers, big data, targeted advertisements, social media algorithms, lateral reading checks, reverse image searches, and more.
My students have been very receptive to and interested in media literacy. I’ve used resources like Common Sense Media; EAVI, the European Association for Viewers Interests; the Digital Inquiry Group Civic Online Reasoning; the News Literacy Project’s Checkology and RumorGuard; and documentaries like “The Social Dilemma” and “Trust Me.”
— Danielle, Middle School Librarian
My current favorite strategy is Michael Caulfield’s SIFT technique, which is a series of moves that help students evaluate sources. The moves are Stop, Investigate the source, Find better coverage, and Trace claims to their original context. This method, along with Crash Course’s videos on Navigating Digital Information (now five years old!) are great resources that teach strategies for clear navigation and investigation of digital sources.
These have worked because these practices aren’t about buzz words like “bias,” they don’t ban any particular resource, and they incorporate use of sources students already use (like Wikipedia).
The moves recognize that a particular website can have myriad information and a reliable source for one thing, but may not be as reliable the next time you approach it. Also the SIFT method loosely duplicates how professional fact checkers check for facts and articulates what those skills are. If students can pull any of these moves or strategies into their daily information searches, they are already three steps ahead.
Honestly, a large challenge has been getting other educators within the school on board to these methods and having opportunities to collaborate with them on teaching these strategies to students. School librarians are experts in research, reference, and evaluating information. I don’t think we are brought into this conversation enough.
— Kate Covintree, High School Librarian
We primarily rely upon the Digital Inquiry Group Civic Online Reasoning approach and teach all students “lateral reading”: To understand a source, leave it. (And also: Who is behind the information? What is the evidence? What do other sources say?) This works well, and after reminding them a few times, students know what it is and can articulate the value of performing a lateral search.
Beyond that we firmly believe that the most effective lessons are embedded in the curricular topic being studied. If media literacy stands alone, it is quickly forgotten. We have used numerous resources, including, but not remotely limited to, Crash Course’s Media Literacy videos; The News Literacy Project; Loki’s Loop Games; and this graphic, 33 Problems With Media in One Chart.
What has been challenging is walking the line between information-seeking behavior in an academic sense versus a personal day-to-day sense. I think because students are less inclined to disclose their personal information habits for fear of judgment. I often ask them how they heard about [insert some big recent newsworthy event] and they are sometimes shy to explain.
— Amy Pelman, School Librarian
We start by teaching 6th graders how to evaluate web resources by paying attention to who (author/publisher) is responsible for the information, what their qualifications are, and how the information might be biased. Later we teach skills for lateral reading that can help them determine more quickly about that authority and bias. We teach them about misinformation and give them skills to identify it when they see it, as well as ways to recognize more reliable sources.
Middle school students are especially good at being skeptical, and I think they like knowing that they have the power to separate reliable information from garbage.
AI is challenging — especially with Google’s format of providing AI-generated overview information first, AI answered questions next, and then websites. That information is not always accurate, nor is it clear who is responsible for it, so it’s not often useful for academic research. However, it’s easy to access. A student today has to work harder to get to reliable resources that they can use and add to a bibliography.
At a time when we need more librarians to help guide students through the information overload, we have less funding for them.
— Jo Melinson, School Librarian
A special thank you
We appreciate all the students who participated and the teachers who brought their classes to this forum — and responded themselves. While not all students listed their schools, we’d like to acknowledge those we saw:
Abington Friends School, Jenkintown, Pa.
Baldwin High School, Baldwin, N.Y.
Beijing National Day School, Beijing
Cumberland Polytechnic High School, Fayetteville, N.C.
Denver Academy, Denver
Jerome High School, Dublin, Ohio
Fairview High School
George Washington Middle School
Glenbard West High School, Glen Ellyn, Ill.
Marblehead High School, Marblehead, Mass.
Miami Country Day School, Miami
Oakton High School, Vienna, Virginia
St. Peter High School, Saint Peter, Minn.
The Governor’s Academy, Byfield, Mass.
The Mount Vernon School, Atlanta
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