You're being manipulated and don't even know it | Nate Pressner | TEDxYouth@Basel

[Music] [Music] so I was googling something the other day and I was so desperate for an answer that even checked the second page of the Google search results now presumably you're really paying attention to me now because research shows that people tend to remember and pay attention to things more the send out to them as being interesting or funny now according to Michael Griffin an associate professor of media and cultural studies this is how my grandparents got their news now they could assume that the media was unbiased because journalistic integrity was one of the most important things at their time on top of this it was considered a public service and honestly they just didn't have many ways of getting news this is how my parents got their news increasingly we started to move towards a more 24hours type of news which led to an increase in competition to BV trusted new source but also decreased the time for fact-checking and this is how today's generation gets their news we have so many options and they're nearly all free and because of this many new sources began to pick their spot along the liberal to conservative continuum and the continuum of presenting complete facts all the way to complete information fabrication and with all of these vying for our very limited attention we move from a model where news could be assumed to be inherently truthful and unbiased to one which enabled fake news you know fake news those false stories with the intent of influencing our opinions and beliefs and are presented as facts yeah those ones well because of this instead of news being the product our attention became the product in the form of views clicks and likes I mean if we see a viral story about a shark swimming down a freeway after a hurricane we can probably assume it isn't true and it's just someone having a little fun with some photoshop so now we're now we're aware of fake news and we're learning to be discerning about it so problem solved right what if I told you it's actually worse than this what if fake news isn't all we need to be aware of what about all the information we are being manipulated into believing is true because it's interesting or funny and our guards are down let me set the scene for you you've had a long day you come home you want to sit down relax and be entertained your guard is down suddenly any information or opinions you may come across could just plant the seed of an idea in your head without you even realizing it Jimmy Kimmel Jimmy Fallon are they all named Jimmy Samantha bee Stephen Colbert and John Oliver all very funny people but we need to be aware of how these late-night talk-show hosts are influencing our political beliefs and their I say it manipulating us in fact take Jimmy Kimmel's tearful and personal resistance to a governmental health care plan on his talk show which led to a very unusual situation the president pushing for the plan yet facing his greatest opposition from wait for it a late-night talk-show host we the youth of today are increasingly getting our information from non news sources in fact 2018 research from strategic communications firm Roeder Partners reveals that nearly half of Gen Z ranked YouTube as their first or second most important source of news Millennials didn't even come far behind that with 44% whereas the clear preference for Gen X and boomers remain traditional sources such as newspapers and magazines the study also revealed that no surprise entertainment and engagement are becoming increasingly more important in fact the younger you are the more you consider the news you consume on a daily basis to be entertainment versus validated information only about 50% of boomers will say that the majority of the media they consume is entertainment but that number jumps to the mid-70s when talking to Millennials and Gen Z thus the need to be discerning is higher than ever before as the content is interesting and funny and our fake news alarm bells probably aren't even on in fact it isn't just comedy shows that we need to be aware of this applies to any information that's coming in where we might be forming opinions on politics or news without being aware of it for example this could be in an article on your social media feed such as on Instagram maybe in a conversation with a family member or a friend it could be on a YouTube video and even all those Netflix shows you binge so how can we combat having our opinions manipulated by interesting or funny information that is coming in without us realizing that our guards are down here are three simple tips number one start by recognizing when a video or a new source you are watching or looking at is not a trusted one just a reminder the comedians themselves will insist that they are not real news I mean they're in the comedy business for crying out loud and they are not held to any type of journalistic standards number two get a balanced view when you find yourself forming a certain opinion on someone make sure you seek out contrary videos to on both sides those for and against that person to get a more rounded view and finally you can always leverage existing store that are aimed specifically at us the youth of today to combat fake news for example BBC has an interactive choose your own adventure game that allows people our age to make decisions about what sources political claims social media comments and photos can be trusted and which ones might be fake news in the world where the business model is increasingly becoming to capture our very limited attention it's become more important than it ever has been to check that second page of the Google search results hopefully you've enjoyed this talk maybe even found it interesting or funny maybe even interesting or funny enough to have your guards beat down and accept everything I've said as the truth so maybe now you're wondering was anything in this talk fake news thank you [Applause]

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 191,170

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, Humanities, Communication, Decision making, Humor, Ideas, Internet, Media, Psychology, Self improvement, Students, Youth

Id: oKMTVRu5Guk

Length: 8min 3sec (483 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 07 2019