5 minute read
Fool Me Once: Fake News Makes Its Way to the Workplace
A survey from MindEdge found American adults are lacking when it comes to digital literacy. That's very bad news for us — and for our employers.
Between antitrust concerns, questions of data privacy, and a number of political dust-ups, Google has caught a lot of flak over the past few years. Depending on where you're standing, the tech giant may be deserving of the criticisms.
Advertisement
Still, there's something neat about every bit of information you could ever want being just a search away. Need a recipe for dinner? Want to teach yourself how to change the oil in your car? Either way, you can find the answer on Google.
Even in our professional lives, as we're doing the work we get paid to do, Google can be a real boon. I admit it: I may be a professional editor, but I still turn to Google when a tricky grammar question arises. I'd wager most readers have done similar things in their own day jobs.
But here's the catch: Just because you found it on the internet doesn't mean it's true, and Google's search rankings are no stamp of credibility. Results are based on relevancy, which is not the same as accuracy.
We savvy web users consider ourselves to be pretty discerning, though. This isn't our first time on the internet! The problem is we're not as discerning we think we are, and that's bad news for us and everyone we work with.
Most of Us Can't Pass a Digital Literacy Test
This past summer, educational technology firm MindEdge surveyed 1,001 American adults for its "State of Critical Thinking" report. Among the report's key concerns: Just how digitally literate is the average American?
"We define digital literacy as an individual's ability to effectively find, identify, evaluate, and use information from digital sources," explains Jefferson Flanders, CEO of MindEdge.
The results of the survey should have us all reconsidering just how astute we are: 88 percent of respondents told MindEdge they were confident in their critical thinking skills, but only 9 percent of them scored an "A" on a basic digital literacy test designed to measure a person's ability to identify fake news and think critically about online resources. Respondents with less than a four-year degree had a 76 percent failure rate; those with degrees had a 62 percent failure rate.
"Overall, I think most of us don't pay close enough attention to the origins of online content, and [we] assume that it's trustworthy when it may not be," Flanders says. "Because of this, we need to be more skeptical of what we read on the web."
In addition to placing too much trust in the internet, many of us are simply too fatigued from the information onslaught. As neuroscientist Daniel Levitan said in a 2016 interview with PBS NewsHour, "We're making more and more decisions every day. I think a lot of us feel overloaded by the process. ... [I]t's getting harder and harder to know, when you find things on the internet, what you can believe and what you can't. And there isn't really anybody doing it for us."
Interestingly, while millennials have a reputation for being digital natives, only 5 percent of millennial participants in MindEdge's survey scored an "A" on the digital literacy test. Baby boomers did a little better, but even their scores were nothing to brag about: Only 13 percent of achieved an "A."
"Neither group did particularly well," Flanders notes. "Since the survey was conducted over the internet, it's possible that the boomers who participated in it are more web-savvy than the average 50+ American. It could also be that baby boomers, who aren't digital natives, may look at the web with a more critical eye."
Bridging the Digital Literacy Gap in 2020
The lack of digital literacy skills among American adults represents more than a general societal shortcoming. It poses immediate, practical problems for organizations today.
"We all rely on Google searches and the information we find on the internet to make decisions," Flanders explains. "Employers want people who can tell real from fake, who know how to find reliable information, and who are critical thinkers. Critical thinking should lead to finding the best answers to business problems, which in turn should save time and money, producing positive results."
If we're failing to discern fact from fiction on the internet, we may be trying to solve business problems with faulty information. The people we're hiring may be prone to mistakes and missteps because they're not critically evaluating sources before accepting their insights and applying their advice to everyday tasks.
As MindEdge's survey makes clear, subpar digital literacy is a widespread problem, so companies can't simply hire their way out of this one. There just isn't enough digital literacy out there.
Instead, employers will have to take active steps to bridge the digital literacy gap within their own workforces. Flanders recommends "invest[ing] in communications and critical training for employees, which should include digital literacy and evaluation of sources as part of the program."
While addressing digital literacy should be an urgent concern for employers heading into 2020, there's no need to panic. According to Flanders, there's good reason to believe we're moving in the right direction.
"I'm an optimist; I think things will get better," he says.
"More schools are teaching critical-thinking skills and focusing on digital literacy," Flanders continues. "A number of fact-checking sites now address claims made on the internet and assess them for accuracy. There's a growing awareness of the dangers of misinformation and disinformation and the need to rely on trustworthy sources."
Flanders even predicts we'll soon see artificially intelligent filters that will help us more easily evaluate digital sources.
But until that day, organizations just have to be willing to spend a little on proper training. Given how powerful employee development opportunities can be when attracting and retaining talent, that may be one silver lining, however slight, to this matter.
Matthew Kosinski is managing editor of Recruiter.com.
