FOCUS Magazine | Oct. 2024 by St. Mark's School of Texas

STAFF

ARJUN

JOSH

WRITERS

KEVIN

DIEGO ARMENDARIZ

SHIV BHANDARI SAM MORSE

MICHAEL CHANG

WILLIAM KOZOMAN

ROHAN KAKKAR

KIRAN PARIKH

DOAN NGUYEN

EMILIANO MAYO

JENNY

MISINFORMATION. AGE TION. FORMATION. MISINFORMATION. AGE TION. FORMATION. MISINFORMATION. AGE TION. FORMATION. MISINFORMATION.

HOW

TION. FORMATION. MISINFORMATION. AGE TION. FORMATION. MISINFORMATION. AGE TION. FORMATION. MISINFORMATION. AGE TION. FORMATION. MISINFORMATION.

THe AGE OF MISINFORMATION. THe AGE OF MISINFORMATION. THe AGE OF MISINFORMATION.

MATION. THe AGE OF MISINFORMATION. THe AGE OF MISINFORMATION. THe AGE MISINFORMATION. THe AGE OF MISINFORMATION. THe AGE OF MISINFORMATION.

AGE OF MISINFORMATION. THe AGE OF MISINFORMATION. THe AGE OF MISINFORMATION.

TION. THe AGE OF MISINFORMATION. THe AGE OF MISINFORMATION. THe AGE OF FORMATION. THe AGE OF MISINFORMATION. THe AGE OF MISINFORMATION. THe MISINFORMATION. THe AGE OF MISINFORMATION. THe AGE OF MISINFORMATION.

AGE OF MISINFORMATION. THe AGE OF MISINFORMATION. THe AGE OF MISINFORMATION.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

POLARIZATION, PERPETUATED THROUGH THE RISE OF MISINFORMATION AND THE DIGITAL AGE, IS INCREASINGLY DIVIDING FAMILIES.

BY JOSEPH SUN AND SAM MORSE

ocky, close your window tonight.

Rocky Lancaster ‘27 had just got out of last period Spanish when he felt his pocket vibrate. What, grandma, what’s wrong?

Another buzz.

I saw on Facebook – someone’s baby got killed because of horseflies.

For Lancaster, his grandma’s messages have become the norm. He has learned to take what his grandma says with a grain of salt. She spends hours of each day on Facebook and Instagram.

Despite her lack of political awareness, she continues to send Lancaster un-factchecked articles, such as the killer horseflies and that he shouldn’t vote for a political candidate because he was part of a drug empire to notify her grandson of various potential “dangers.”

Aside from his liberal grandmother, Lancaster’s family is a mixture of opinions and expressive voices. His mom, stepdad and brother lean left – his other grandparents leaning more right.

Lancaster stands in the middle.

Either way, he doesn’t need to decide just yet. Politics are not the subject of discussion during family reunions for a reason.

According to Lancaster, his grandparents are oldschool. He assumes that, like his own grandparents, many others in older generations refuse to adjust to new ideas and have a black and white perspective.

“Sophistication is outpacing their aging,” Upper School Counselor Dr. Mary Bonsu said. “And so, they are more susceptible.”

Just 40 years ago, TV had been the primary method for spreading news and there were only three main TV channels people could watch.

AS THE NATION BECOMES MORE POLARIZED, SOME FAMILIES HAVE ALSO BECOME DIVIDED OVER POLITICAL ISSUES.

“ABC, NBC, and CBS. That’s it,” Bonsu said. “And how was that news presented to me? Someone sitting at a desk, pictures behind him. If something newsworthy was happening while they were talking, they’d go ‘Breaking news!’.”

Just as blue masks now trigger people’s memories of the COVID-19 pandemic, the phrase ‘Breaking news!’ would trigger a sense of priority or value for people who grew up watching these news stations on the TV.

“How many people now on Twitter will start their silly

JOSEPH

little Twitter headline with BREAKING NEWS!” Bonsu said. “They’re just capitalizing on an old trust system.”

Because of the animosity and emotion behind political debates in his family, Lancaster has resorted to avoiding talking about politics.

“I don’t try to approach anything political (with my Grandpa),” Lancaster said. “Recently, there was a (presidential) debate, and we didn’t talk. On those days, my parents tell me to not talk to them.”

However, as Lancaster gets closer to voting age, he

will not be able to stand in the middle and steer away from politics. As adulthood approaches, Lancaster realized he must develop his own beliefs through research rather than relying on biased family members.

For senior Andrew Jin, fact checking is among the many tactics he has to fight misinformation. Because of his passion, Jin has learned the value of research and good sources when formulating opinions.

“RECENTLY, THERE WAS THE [PRESIDENTIAL] DEBATE, AND WE DIDN’T TALK. ON THOSE DAYS, MY PARENTS TELL ME TO NOT TALK TO THEM.” ROCKY LANCASTER, SOPHOMORE

“In debate, you have to argue both sides,” Jin said. “The process of researching exposes you to the best of both sides and helps you form an opinion yourself based on that.”

It is difficult, even for Jin, to mimic the same research process for politics because it’s continually changing. However, he still tries to analyze both sides and maintain credible sources.

He has developed habits such as checking an author’s background or finding sources that have different facts when making his final decision. But, like many other hard-working students, Jin struggles to find sufficient research and create his own ideology while maintaining his rigorous academic life.

“Young people have a symptom of time commitment. It’s just relatively hard to do in-depth research, which is why it’s so good when somebody actually does it,” Jin said. “But, I see it as less of a problem and more as an unfortunate consequence of limited time.”

When discussing politics, Jin finds that knowing how to have civil discourse is just as important as knowing the facts beforehand. For Lancaster, this is his bump in the road.

Jin understands the anxiety that comes with talking to parents about such a vulnerable topic and realizes the potential risks that come from those conversations.

“Sometimes a child would develop their own opinion, and then they would miscommunicate when delivering the argument (to their parent), and that would sometimes result in bad things,” Jin said.

To combat these potential miscommunications, Jin advises students in the same position as Lancaster to research the topic with their family members before discussing in order to reach the same page before debating.

Jin also believes that children should try to stay in the conversation and maintain intellectual discussion. The priority is not to try to find the most correct answer, but to have both sides come to the discussion in reasonable good faith.

“If two people come to a discussion, the result doesn’t have to be, ‘oh my ideology wins against yours,’ Jin said. “It could be that none of us are right and that we are both wrong. We can go back to the drawing board, try to find something else.”

N TODAY’S DIGITAL LANDSCAPE, FALSE INFORMATION IS RAMPANT. BUT WITH THE ADDITION OF DEEPFAKE TECHNOLOGY, PEOPLE HAVE BEGUN TO TRULY QUESTION DIGITAL CONTENT THEY SEE ONLINE. EVER SINCE DEEPFAKES SHOOK THE INTERNET NEARLY FIVE YEARS AGO, THE TECHNOLOGY’S CAPACITY TO MANIPULATE REALITY PRESENTS A SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGE THAT ONLY CONTINUES TO GROW.

STORY BY KEVIN HO AND DIEGO

SUN AND SHIV BHANDARI

Beginning in 2017, advancements in AI generative technology have allowed for the formation of a highly controversial technological innovation.

An innovation that blurred the lines between reality and illusion.

An innovation that is now viewed by some as a revolutionary tool for humor and creative expression.

An innovation that is now also viewed by others as a direct threat to society’s integrity, fueling dystopian fears of the collapse of digital reliability.

Ready or not, deepfake technology is integrating itself into reality.

Ever since the early 19th century, people have discovered ways to edit, transform and manipulate visual media through methods including Adobe Photoshop or video filters on social media platforms.

Today, videos and photos are inescapable. Social media companies used by billions across the world are

ALL FOUR OF THESE HYPER REALISTIC PORTRAITS WERE GENERATED USING THE AI ‘FACESTUDIO.APP’.

built on the sharing of videos and photos. They’re the primary methods people use to communicate and share information with the world.

Beyond their basic purposes, the injection of deepfake technologies — the process of taking media and altering it with AI — into modern society’s bloodstream through mediums of videos and photos greets us with multiple alarming implications.

For Doug DeGroot, Director of the Center for Applied AI and Machine Learning at the University of Texas at Dallas, the capability deepfakes have to disfigure reality is a prominent issue that deserves immediate attention.

“In my ethics class, we looked at deepfakes, and the main thing that bothers me is that there used to be a phrase, ‘seeing is believing,’” DeGroot said. “If you tell somebody a wild story and they say, ‘Oh my God, that can’t possibly be true,’ and you say, ‘Yes, it is, come over here and look,

you can see it,’ then you would bring them over and they would see the evidence. Then, they pretty much would believe it.”

But with deepfakes developing and improving at an alarming rate, DeGroot fears that the widely-recognized idiom, ‘seeing is believing,’ is at risk of becoming obsolete. In his eyes, the decline of online authenticity poses an ominous threat to the public’s trust in visual content.

“The phrase is going to lose its potency over the next couple of decades, and it may reach the point where we’re no longer able to believe anything that we see unless we see it live and in person,” DeGroot said.

“Seeing things on video means that videos could, at some point, become completely useless as a tool for ascertaining truth.”

In addition to deepfakes’ potential to mask the truth behind a digital facade, their use in the realm of entertainment has ignited contro-

versy, raising questions about the ethical boundaries of representation and compensation for actors and actresses.

“If you can use a person’s visage in a movie, you can make that person do whatever you want them to do,” DeGroot said. “And, you could make movies and earn lots of money off of that person’s digital character. But the person, the real person, isn’t entitled to any money. And that’s the love in the contracting scheme — that the actors and actresses think that they ought to be able to be paid for every minute their personage is shown on the screen.”

On the other hand, Computer Science Department Chair Kurt Tholking believes that the responsible development of deepfakes within the confines of the entertainment industry could further enhance movies and television shows.

“We’ve seen actors give their approval (to be deepfaked) — not just

their images, but also their voices,” Tholking said. “They could get a gen erated image and use it on another actor, which could be beneficial.”

Even though Tholking maintains a generally optimistic outlook on the future of AI and deepfake technology, he highlights its potential for misuse, specifically with regard to politics. As the visual fidelity of AI-generated content is heightened, the degree to which foreign entities are able to spread misleading propa ganda increases.

“As a teacher, I’m trying to edu cate Marksman on the positive aspects of AI, but you still have to be aware of the negatives,” Tholking said. “With the election coming up, you’ll see a lot of deepfakes trying to sway the popular opinion. In extreme cases, they might be trying to sway an uprising or a coup, especially in smaller countries.”

OF

AMERICANS SAY THEY REGULARLY USE AI

influx of AI, Tholking thinks it is essential to teach others how to properly deal with suspicious material, emphasizing the need for digital education.

“Look for cues and then fact check, just like you would with an article. Like, ‘Hey, is this video legit, is it posted somewhere else?’ There are websites that actually can fact check, but you can’t just rely on one website,” Tholking said. “Think about what you can do to prevent that and

OF CONSUMERS VIEW AI OPTIMISTICALLY

As for the most effective ways to mitigate the impact caused by the

“VIDEOS COULD, AT SOME POINT, BECOME COMPLETELY USELESS AS A TOOL FOR ASCERTAINING TRUTH.”

DOUG DEGROOT, PROFESSOR

CHURCH AND STATE

CHURCH PLAYS A SIGNIFICANT ROLE FOR MANY TEXANS. DESPITE REGULATIONS MEANT TO PREVENT CHURCHES FROM ENGAGING IN POLITICAL PREACHING, MANY CONTINUE TO DO SO WITHOUT FACING CONSEQUENCES.

BY ARJUN POI AND JOSEPH SUN

elievers in Jesus Christ…

BThis fall, a Baptist church congregation just north of Dallas had just sat down after half an hour of song, music praising the lord and witnessing several baptisms of happy families.

… those that hear the sound of my voice and those that are watching online, please know 30 percent of evangelical Christians do not vote.

The baskets started being passed around. There was a pressure to put something in them – who wouldn’t want to help the church missions saving starving children around the world?

It is our duty to vote. Blood was shed for us to vote. We need to vote our godly, biblical convictions. We worship God in song. We worship God in the hearing and the preaching of his word. Please continue to be faithful in this given.

In addition to preaching about God, he took the opportunity to praise former president Donald Trump the most ‘pro-life president’. He had even called for an emergency prayer before Trump’s next debate in hopes of gaining God’s blessing.

In Jesus’s name, Amen.

During that service, an associate pastor who was also formerly the Texas state representative for the 33rd District, gave this specific prayer. That associate pastor is one among the many other politicians the lead pastor has openly endorsed and invited to speak at the church.

As situations like this occur on Sunday mornings all over the country, the question as to whether politics and religion should mix remains.

While a person’s religion can certainly impact his morals and ideals, how direct should churches be when it

“WE REALLY ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO USE SCRIPTURE AS THEIR FOUNDATION BUT THEN ALSO TO USE THEIR ABILITY TO REASON. GOD GAVE US

comes to outwardly endorsing a political party?

Co-pastor Melissa Nelms has been a pastor since 2011 and has worked at the Walnut Hill Church, a ministry of the Lovers Lane United Methodist Church, for five years. Nelms understands the impact that religion can have on someone’s life.

BRAIN AND THE ABILITY TO THINK, REASON AND HAVE DIALOG. MELISSA NELMS, CO-PASTOR AT WALNUT HILL CHURCH

“If you consider yourself to be a person of faith, then the way you live your life is impacted by your religious beliefs, whether you’re Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu or Buddhist, your religious beliefs should impact your actions,” Nelms said.

Many Americans attend places of religious worship to feel closer to God, and they take the messages that they hear to heart. When religious institutions use their position of influence to make specific statements on who the attendees should vote for, Nelms believes it is an inappropriate use of their power.

“A blanket statement like that is really polarizing and damaging,” Nelms said.

When churches talk about politics, Nelms believes they should encourage their members to become active in their communities rather than push a specific agenda.

“All major religious traditions have similar messages of love, hope, grace and forgiveness, and if people of faith are active in their communities and in the political sphere, then our political system is going to be better for it,” Nelms said.

While Nelms admits she would never tell anyone in her congregation who to vote for, she looks to the United Methodist Church’s social principles to guide her when talking through heavy and potentially controversial topics. These social principles serve as a guide to responding to various needs in the world.

“Whether it be around environmental issues, sexuality, marriage, gambling, addiction or abortion, the social principles help us look at those really big topics that impact us on a daily basis through the lens of our faith in our scripture,” Nelms said.

During sermons, Nelms invites churchgoers to also think for themselves and not restrict themselves to the principles.

A SIGN DEPICTING A CHOICE BETWEEN FAITH AND POLITICS IS POSTED RIGHT OUTSIDE OF NORTHAVEN UNITED METHODIST CHURCH.

With the advent of AI, almost no media can be validated at a glance. As faked audios, videos and images become more and more convincing and the seemingly impossible now com mon, readers must stay vigilant when browsing the internet or social media. First, use common sense — inconsistencies or inhuman writing tendencies will stick out from an otherwise spotless article. Large language models like Chat-GPT tend to overuse certain descriptive words and other cliches: a recent study by Andrew Gray has shown that these AI tools overuse words like “intricate” and “meticulous.” Often, flawless grammar and a strangely artificial vocabulary indicate that text has been AI-generated. AI-generated images,

“DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU HEAR” IS AN OLD SAYING. NOWADAYS, HOW CAN YOU TELL REAL AND FAKE APART?

takes. Six fingers on one hand, impossible architecture, disfigured background details — these are dead giveaways of an image that has been tampered with or completely faked altogether. Audio is much the same; take the effort to listen closely for a robotic tone of voice, distorted background noises or unnatural pronunciation, and spotting fakes will become much easier. Simply put, pay attention to details.

Often, fake or misleading media uses the vulnerability of our own beliefs to catch our attention. Anyone who has a certain view may be implicitly more inclined to believe one thing over another, but anything, from any side, can be misinformed. Try to be completely objective when reading or listening to the news, and double check every dubious claim you hear, even if it comes from a trusted source. Like with many things in life, don’t let your emotions rule. If you let your own partiality influence your judgment and how you interpret media, you won’t have the same wide range of stories and angles at your disposal as someone who reads beyond their comfort zone. And if a piece of media is designed to

ONE OF THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAYS FOR MISLEADING MEDIA TO SPREAD IS THROUGH ITS READERS. USE YOUR OWN JUDGMENT, BUT DON’T BE BIASED.

evoke your emotions — a controversial headline, for example — it is potentially deliberate. Now more than ever, online news is circulated by algorithms that aim to maximize exposure and advertisement revenue, and circulating outrage is an efficient way to do just that. A New York University study by psychologist Jay Van Bavel and his team concluded that for every highly emotional word used in an X (formely Twitter) post, the number of people reposting it increased by 15% to 20%. Emotional responses to emotional media breed even more anger, as algorithms continue to show the controversial content that sees the most clicks and earns the most money. If you can recognize signs of bias and emotional tactics in media, you won’t fall into this trap. Don’t be vulnerable, and don’t believe what you want to believe.

JOSHUA GOFORTH

EVERY YEAR, MILLIONS OF PEOPLE FALL VICTIM TO SCAMS AND PROMISES THAT ARE LEFT UNFULFILLED. HOW CAN YOU STAY AHEAD OF THE CURVE?

Fake or misleading media can also steal our attention by using our own optimism. Most people have been victims of scams, large or small, where perceived deals and grand promises prove to be harmful. Be it a used car on sale, a project’s estimated cost, or a weight loss program, we may want to capitalize on untapped potential that seems to have found its way into our hands. But our tendency to believe good things can be dangerous — always err on the side of caution before putting resources into or even believing anything “too good to be true.” For a recent example: an advertisement airs before Monday Night Football, and a movie star offers $1,000 in bonus bets in return for joining their sportsbook. So, why not get the free money? The answer lies in the fine print. DraftKings, one such sports betting company, was sued

in 2023 on the grounds that its $1,000 sign-up bonus would only be paid out if customers both made an initial deposit of $5,000 and put $25,000 on bets with odds of 3-1 or worse, all within 90 days. It may seem unfair, but every DraftKings user agrees to the terms of use of the company, whether they really read it or not. To truly understand what you sign up for, you have to look past the allure and judge objectively. Opposite to outrage content, companies and media algorithms will target you with what you want to hear. Don’t fall for it.

tively and to do your own research, the next step is understanding how to effectively gather the correct information. The least reputable sources are online — media on so cial platforms like instagram or X (formerly Twitter) can never be trusted right away, and neither can an obscure news network on your browser. Check official coverage by analyzing name, design, grammar, web domain, author or anything that can give away a potentially malicious or fake web site. More reliable sources are physically published, like in a magazine or newspaper. But printed pages and words don’t rule out misinformation — coverage can often inten tionally or unintentionally slip, even in rep utable sources. In a 2005 study by Scott R. Maier of the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication, 48% of 4,800 sampled newspaper articles

RESEARCHING AND INVESTIGATING SKETCHY SOURCES CAN HELP TO DETERMINE WHAT’S REAL AND WHAT’S NOT. BUT HOW IS RESEARCH DONE CORRECTLY?

from 14 different American newspapers contained objective factual errors, and even more were subjectively written. Through gathering multiple articles and sources, the chances of uncovering truthful coverage is much higher. Build up your own knowledge and use your own judgment to decide which story, from multiple reputable sources, is the most grounded in reality.

SEEING THROUGH THE FOG

MISINFORMATION IS CONSTANTLY MASQUERADING AS THE TRUTH, MAKING IT MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER TO IDENTIFY FACT FROM FICTION.

BY WILLIAM KOZOMAN AND

For everyday people, finding the truth – the actual truth, has become harder than it’s ever been. Social media pages and even some news outlets have been tarnished by misinformation, false quotes and stories and AI-generated videos and recordings that sneakily hide the misdirection at their core.

As this problem has only continued to worsen in recent years and will only likely continue to do so, it’s become more important than ever for people, especially students, to know who and what to trust and not trust. The skill at the core of this idea is media literacy, the ability to critically analyze sources and information to ultimately come out with valid, useful information to use in the real world. However, education in this area has so far failed to catch up to the wave of new misinformation already out there and on the horizon, with ¾ of adults supporting more media literacy education at school and a similar share of them not having those skills themselves. As a

CHRISTOPHER HUANG

“OUR GOAL, AND IT’S QUITE EXPLICIT, IS TO CREATE INFORMED AND ENGAGED CITIZENS FOR THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC.”

DAVID FISHER, CHAIR OF THE HISTORY DEPARTMENT

result, many teachers here have decided to take the problem into their own hands.

For Middle School computer science teacher Kendall Murphy, the amount of misinformation that the people around her believed drove her to act.

“We would be talking about something ridiculous, and they would be like ‘Oh, I read an article about that on Facebook,’” Murphy said. “Because my friends were telling me these things, ‘I was like, Oh my gosh, this is what people really think.’”

But trying to start teaching media literacy wasn’t easy. In fact, very few resources existed at the time.

“When I first started, it was interesting because I did a lot of research, and as teachers do, we try to find what’s already out there so that we don’t have to remake a lesson,” Murphy said. “There was nothing, no checklist, no nothing.”

This moment was about five years ago. Now, many more resources exist, made by experts and teachers alike to tackle the issue. One particular resource is a new genre of websites made by educators that purport to be credible sources – but are in truth, full of completely false information. These websites are designed to trick media illiterate viewers into believing them, but then show them ways to avoid a similar situation in the future. This

REQUIRED LITERACY

K-12; FRAMEWORK REQUIRED

K-12; IN CLASS TEACHING REQUIRED OTHER LEGISLATIVE SOLUTION

NO LEGISLATURE

AS MISINFORMATION TAKES THE INTERNET BY STORM, SOME STATES HAVE NOW REQUIRED MEDIA LITERACY AS PART OF CURRICULA.

has since become a cornerstone of Murphy’s classes for fifth and sixth graders, with both grades having a media literacy unit and major project.

David Fisher, chair of the History Department, has also dealt with ways to tackle the oncoming wave of misinformation and false sources. Finding credible sources and citing them correctly is already a part of the history curriculum, so some media literacy is already implicit in the teaching.

“Our goal, and it’s quite explicit, is to create informed and engaged citizens for the American republic,” Fisher said. “And part of being informed and engaged citizens is that you need to be able to evaluate new sources and be able to talk about current events and so forth.”

But new forms of misinformation and trickery have also made this task more difficult. Though not all teachers have the same way of dealing with the problem, history teacher Michele Santosuosso has found a few strategies. Her history classes involve writing research papers, which require many sources, including traditional papers. Santosuosso requires her students to look into their sources and analyze them critically, forcing them to practice their media literacy skills. This process involves hand-written annotations and commentary on the text and author and possible biases.

“I’ve kind of gone, you know, retro or old school in my classes and demand paper sources,” Santosuosso said. “So, like printouts or books and a true annotation by hand, really looking at the printed word, really looking at the author’s background.”

While analyzing sources is especially essential in history, Santosuosso thinks it’s important to expand this education and its impact to extend into students’ lives in general, so that they can go forward well-educated and informed.

“I really think it’s important for young people to understand what they’re reading, whether it’s politically leaning, who it’s written by, the bias, the background of the author and the education of the author,” Santosuosso said.

INFOGRAPHIC JOSEPH SUN,

Media Literacy

THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY, TEACHERS GRAPPLE WITH SHARING UNBIASED FACTS WHILE ALLOWING STUDENTS TO SHARE THEIR OPINIONS.

BY ROHAN KAKKAR AND KIRAN PARIKH

t school, a place where students are meant to challenge and learn from each other, opinions are bound to clash. From the smallest and most factual of topics to the most complex and sensitive ones, everybody has something to say— even teachers.

AAnd in a country where freedom of speech is in its Constitution, anyone is legally allowed to give any opinion of theirs without consequence, an angry slip of the tongue, saying the wrong thing at the wrong time is almost inevitable–but now more than ever, it’s punishable.

Across the country, teachers and students alike are starting to face consequences for expressing their personal beliefs about ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, immigration status and other often-controversial topics. Junior Benjamin Standefer thinks the school does a good job of striking a balance between facilitating debate and allowing teachers to express their viewpoints.

“I’ve encountered a spectrum,” Standefer said. “Some teachers are very good about keeping any and all their beliefs outside of the classroom, and some teachers express them pretty clearly. The balance that we have is good because you are going to come into contact with those kinds of perspectives in the real world. I’ve never come in contact with a teacher who expresses a political view and then says you’re not allowed to argue back. We always have a freedom of voice.”

While political discourse may seem very simple at the school, the reality is that many schools across the U.S. are not able to expose students to different viewpoints. Strong parent associations or laws prevent many schools in the nation from sharing political viewpoints with students.

“I definitely see more opinionated teachers from schools outside of St Mark’s, and I’ve had friends say ‘this teacher expressed XYZ viewpoint, and it upset me,’” Standefer said. “I don’t know what those schools’ policies are and how they go about that, but it is potentially problematic in the long run, and it’s rooted in a more systemic, political divisiveness that has swept America in the last two decades.”

Additionally, teachers have much influence over their students and students often accept their teachers’ infor-

ASSISTANT HEAD OF MIDDLE SCHOOL AND HUMANITIES TEACHER JASON LANGE LEADING A CLASS DISCUSSION ON THE LITTLE PRINCE.

“I’VE EVEN TOLD MY CLASSES THIS YEAR, I DON’T CARE IF SANTA CLAUS WALKS THROUGH THAT DOOR...YOU FACT CHECK HIM NO MATTER

mation as truth. As misinformation becomes more prevalent with the rise of social media, it is harder than ever for students to find true, unbiased information and facts.

“I think at any higher educational institution you’re going to come in contact with conflicting perspectives,” Standefer said. “And sometimes it’s a matter of you may not share the same opinion as that teacher, and they may use different kinds of facts to back up those opinions. Sometimes, it converges into the territory of such refined nuance that someone could be wrong, or rather, they could be making a point that’s just not strong enough to convince the classroom.”

For that reason, History instructor Michelle Santosuosso believes it’s a teacher’s responsibility to curate a stream of fact-checked information before it arrives into the classroom and curriculum.

“As ninth through 11th graders, you don’t want to have to (look out for misinformation) on your own,” Santosuosso said. “If we force you to do it ninth through 11th, then it almost becomes habitual. Now, it’s part of you as a man, and so by 12th grade, at the age of 18, you’re doing it on your own.”

But even so, Santosuosso tries to make sure that her students are always skeptical of any information they come across, especially because of the massive flow of potential misinformation on the internet.

“I’ve even told my classes this year, I don’t care if Santa Claus walks through that door…you fact check him no matter what,” she said.

Aside from encouraging skepticism, Santosuosso cautions against consuming information from a single perspective.

“There’s a danger in only reading from one side of the spectrum. I mean, it’s just shaping how you see the world,” Santosuosso said. “To see the world and acknowledge when there’s bias, to acknowledge if it’s written slanted for right, slanted for left, just to acknowledge that, I think it’s just going to set you guys up for huge success. Huge success as far as responsibility goes, especially in school, especially when you reach our age.”

But does it work? In Santosuosso’s Special Operations class, students were assigned to watch the September presidential debate, and then discuss it in class.

“We (Spec Ops) had class the morning after the presidential debates, and (the students’) homework was to watch it, and we (engaged) in a civil discourse (about the debate),” Santosuosso said. “And I kid you not, I was blown away how mature and level-headed they were.

Students were able to see each other as equals despite their vastly contrasting political opinions.

“I know for a fact–because they also did the political compass–I’ve got far right, and I know I’ve got far left. But the way they handle themselves is 10 times better than adults.”

THE DEATH OF TRUTH

CORPORATE AND POLITICAL BIASES HAVE CHANGED THE NEWS AMERICANS RECEIVE. HOW CAN STUDENTS DECIDE FOR THEMSELVES?

STORY BY KADYEN ZHONG AND SHIV BHANDARI | ILLUSTRATION

BY JOSEPH SUN

n Oct. 3, after the East Coast had been ravaged by Hurricane Helene and Milton, U.S. Rep resentative Marjorie Taylor Greene posted a tweet that read,

Yes, they can control the weather. It’s ridiculous for any one to lie and say it can’t be done.

Social Media platform X users quickly fact-checked the blatant lie, providing sources below the tweet to prove that “they,” likely referring to the Democratic Par ty or the government, had no involvement in the creation of the hurricanes. News sources like CBS News, NPR, The Guardian and many more posted articles debunking the claim. President Joe Biden made a statement calling Greene’s tweet “reckless” and “stupid.”

Yet, when director of Columbia Scholastic Press As sociation Jennifer Benkso Ha scrolled through social media, she saw people she knew commenting that Demo crats controlled the weather.

“They thought that, since there was this news report that you could seed clouds, the Democrats wanted to in fluence election results in swing states,” Ha said.

Ha, who ran Fortune’s online publications for five years and Newsweek’s digital media for five years, be lieves that the reason people fall for misinformation is due to a common cognitive bias called confirmation bias, which is when we subconsciously search for and favor facts and evidence that support our prior beliefs.

“When I’m watching FOX News, the news is being fil tered to me in a certain way that, maybe, I want to hear it because it appeals to my biases,” Ha said. “The same thing goes for other news sources. So if I’m more of a Democrat, I want to hear news that’s going to support my point of view. This is the way people work.”

In an attempt to get more online clicks, some news organizations exploit this confirmation bias in people or show news that people want to read rather than what’s really happening.

“What’s the difference between the National Enquirer versus The Guardian or BBC?” Ha asked. “The National Enquirer deals in news that’s not necessary news. It’s not going to help you with your job. It’s not going to help you decide how to invest your money. It’s not going to help you think about the geopolitical situation in a different way. It’s really more entertainment — cheap entertain ment.”

Ha believes readers need to use common sense and critical thinking to be able to distinguish between reputa ble news sources and news sources that are more focused on getting views, like the National Enquirer or TMZ.

“With TMZ, the reporting may or may not be true, but it gets people’s attention,” Ha said. “There’s an inherent problem in all this, and it comes down to what the business

“TEACHERS HAVE A LOT OF INFLUENCE OVER THEIR STUDENTS, AND I WANT (MY STUDENTS) TO BE THINKING FOR THEMSELVES, NOT GIVING

ANSWERS THEY THINK THAT I WANT TO HEAR.”

Street Journal and The Washington Post every morn

SKINNY DREAMS, DANGEROUS REALITY.

AS SOCIAL MEDIA GROWS, BEAUTY STANDARDS ARE BECOMING STRICTER, AFFECTING THE MINDS OF ITS USERS. WITH INFLUENCERS PROMOTING DEATH DIETS AND FAULTY PRODUCTS, MORE AND MORE TEENS ARE SUFFERING FROM A NEW DIETING EPIDEMIC.

SBY DOAN NGUYEN AND ANDREW YE

he pulled her trembling hand back, pushing through the pain in her stomach.

It’s worth it—I’ve already lost 30 pounds.

To look half her age. A small waist and pretty face. That’s all she wanted.

“My grandmother found this diet and started cutting certain foods—proteins,” Strength and Conditioning coach Kevin Dilworth said. “She started eating all these fruits and berries.”

A week later, she was in the ICU after having a stroke. The diet made her lose more than just a couple pounds; she almost lost her life. ***

Dilworth’s alarm goes off at 4 a.m. every single day. While others snooze their alarm and pull the covers over their heads, Dilworth is pushing his body to its limits. On social media, Dilworth publicizes his motivational routine with the goal of inspiring anyone who stumbles onto his account. He’s not posting for likes. He doesn’t check the view count. None of it matters to him.

“I just hope that what I post is there for somebody that needs it,” Dilworth said. “It’s not just a workout. It’s a lifestyle.”

Susceptible to misinformation, Dilworth’s grandmother blindly followed a meal plan that led to unhealthy short-term improvement. She and many others fall victim to the idea of an hourglass figure or defined abs, slamming add-to-cart on the latest miracle weight-loss program.

“People are trying things so fast, so frequently, and it’s really not for them,” Dilworth said. “You’re gonna kill yourself trying to find the perfect diet—what are the first three letters?”

Dilworth’s dynamic way of life is infectious; rooms

light up with his energy. While Dilworth’s motives are far from selfish, many others have turned to social media as a shortcut to fame and money, selling ineffective workout routines and products.

“For those people who are out there trying to make money on it, they’re doing it for the wrong purpose and the wrong reason,” Dilworth said. “It has to be more than just posting. It has to be change.”

Platforms like TikTok and Instagram have an even larger chokehold on their target audience: teenagers. According to the National Organization of Women, 78 percent of 17-year-old girls are “unhappy with their bodies.” Scrolling marathons are leading children to structure their dream body around fitness influencers on the other side of the screen. Most of these motivational trainers make getting shredded look easy, but there’s a distinction between inspiring and misleading.

“You’d be surprised how much better you can look with just better lighting and targeted camera angles,” senior Hans Hesse said. “Although there are certain influencers who use their physique in a morally positive way, the reality is that a lot of them abuse steroids and rely on their genetics to craft their image.”

To Hesse, the issue isn’t necessarily the use of steroids but the lies and deception that come with it. When the influencers are not fully open about their supplement usage, it creates misconceptions within their audience.

“There’s this unrealistic, idealized physique that many kids think is possible to achieve because of the nature of their content.” Hesse said. “Even I have to remind myself to not compare my own physique with a 20-30 year old professional bodybuilder who is likely on various supplements and has perfect genetics.”

By preying on natural, human insecurities—looks, personality, lifestyles—social media prompts both kids and adults to make drastic decisions. Just to look a little more like the influencer on their “For You” page.

“I sometimes see 15-year olds on social media who want to take a shortcut by using steroids,” Hesse said.

“They haven’t even capped out their genetic potential before making a life-altering choice, and beginning to abuse steroid-like substances that young just to look bigger is insane.”

But the problem expands beyond just influencing kids to buy workout supplements online. Some influencers use their social media standing to market their own products. Quick cash and attention are more than enough for the online personas to neglect some of the rigorous testing of side effects.

“Influencers on TikTok, who are not good sources of information, may pretend that some healthy supplements are bad and feel weird to use,” Hesse said. “And it’s believable, but then they market their own products to their followers.”

For Hesse, taking supplements is not a bad thing to do when working out, especially with the goal of getting stronger. The difference is knowing what you should take and what not to.

“I started lifting weights freshman year and let myself naturally get stronger for several years, building a strong foundation of effort in the gym, before I hopped on creatine a few months ago,” Hesse said. “I wanted to explore every safe avenue of enhancing my performance and took advice from my doctor the entire process to see if it would be safe for me. Other than a bit of bloating, it was harmless. I can’t say the same for some kids who use it mindlessly and expect huge results within days.”

The inspiring misinformation from fitness influencers online coupled with kids’ ambitions of getting bigger and stronger for their age creates a cycle with potentially deadly consequences.

“The bottom line is for you to listen to your own body,” Hesse said. “If you are really inclined to look like the beasts online, consult a medical professional, drug professional or at the very least, do your own research. It’s much better than blindly following your urges and paying for it with your health.”

BEWARE THE DANGERS OF SOCIAL MEDIA

40% of teens SAY social media caused worry about their image. 594%

BY JOSH GOFORTH AND EMILIANO MAYO

ASCAM CALLERS USE AI TO THEIR ADVANTAGE BY REPLICATING THE VOICES OF THE RELATIVES OF POTENTIAL TARGETS.

nervous face turned to her husband — he looked back, concerned. The phone in front of them displayed a foreign number, but the speaker was their son. They could not see his face, but clearly, it was their son, begging them for help.

Three years ago, Chinese teacher Janet Lin’s parents received a call from their son, Lin’s younger brother, frantically claiming he was being kidnapped. Scam calls are common where they live in Taiwan, but something about the possibility of close

PHOTO JOSEPH SUN

family being in danger shook Lin’s parents.

“My dad saw my mom’s face change, so he asked Mom, ‘What’s going on?’ And my mom was just shaking,” Lin said.

Gathering herself, Lin’s mother put the phone on speaker, and the two anxiously listened to their son’s pleading voice, indistinguishable from reality. Lin’s father began to doubt the validity of the call, and decided to call his son’s phone, only to be left with a voicemail. Awaiting his answer, Lin’s parents could not hide the thought: Is this really happening?

Lin’s father took the next step, calling his son’s wife, who quickly answered the phone.

“My brother’s wife said, ‘He’s in a meeting.’ That’s why he did not pick up.” Lin said.

Lin’s parents had finally found their answer: their son was safe and sound at work. But the scare hadn’t only affected them — it also opened Lin’s eyes to the dangers her parents and others face as AI improves every year.

Lin first took the initiative to teach her own mother to stay safe in a changing world.

“I told her first, ‘Do not answer the phone call if you don’t know the number, and whenever you receive a phone call or you get a message, you have to double-check,’” Lin said.

Creating an AI video of herself as an example, Lin communicated to her mother the overwhelming idea that AI can replicate anyone nearly spotlessly in almost an instant.

“I originally tried to say, ‘Mom, I’m in trouble. Send me some money,’” Lin said. “But I was worried that my mom would fall for that… [and] get scared. So I just said, ‘Mom, it’s not me. Even if it looks like me and sounds like me, it’s not me.’”

Lin was determined to not only educate her parents but also to help students avoid these scams and the panic her parents were forced to endure.

“What if they both didn’t pick up the phone? We don’t know how much money (my parents) could have lost,” Lin said. “We were really lucky, I would say, that day. But really, that’s why we are here educating you guys.”

Lin believes that teachers carry a heavier responsibility than just going over curriculum — she believes that giving advice and teaching life lessons is a part of every one of her classes.

“I’m here to teach you how to make your judgments. It’s built up - it’s not just one day. Your knowledge is power. The more knowledge you have, the more you can form your judgments.”

One such piece of Lin’s advice is not to fight against the future but to embrace the hardships that come with it.

“AI is getting better and AI is getting smarter,” Lin said. “It’s here, and it’s not just coming. It’s coming very, very fast. So you cannot stop it. The only thing you can do is to protect yourself, learn how to deal with it and use it, not let it use you.”

“YOU NEED TO BUILD YOUR OWN JUDGMENT. YOU CAN ONLY TRUST YOURSELF.”

JANET LIN, CHINESE TEACHER

Our natural response to boredom is pulling out our phone from our pocket and scrolling through social media. The algorithm has hooked us; it knows what we want to see when we want to see it.

BY ARJUN POI AND CHRISTIAN WARNER

dults see it; kids believe it.

AIn June of 2023, OceanGate’s Titan —the company’s Titanic-viewing submersible — experienced a mechanical breakdown, leading to its implosion. International scale rescues were attempted but failed.

And just one week after the incident originally happened, millions of TikTok users heard the screams of the five passengers on board the vessel.

But something was off.

Those screams weren’t from the passengers. They were artificial and inhuman.

Millions of viewers all over the world heard the screams from a popular game series Five Nights at Freddy’s. The clarification didn’t matter though; the damage was done and gained immense popularity in those brief hours before the truth was revealed.

Misinformation on social media is becoming an increasingly greater problem, especially with the advent of artificial intelligence. According to Forbes, 76 percent of consumers are concerned about misinformation stemming from artificial intelligence. But despite that, an MIT study from 2018 found that fake stories spread six times faster than accurate news on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

Social media companies decide what they want to show a user by using complex algorithms.

“When you are on TikTok, they know exactly what to show you at the exact time in the exact order to keep you hooked and using that app for hours and hours on end,” former Google software engineer Seun Omonije ‘18 said. “That’s why it blew up and became so popular.”

While the exact details of a company’s social media algorithm are generally kept under wraps, when Elon Musk bought and took control of X, formerly known as Twitter, he released the code for the algorithm for everyone to see on the popular coding platform GitHub. While Twitter’s algorithm is different from the algorithm of other social networks, Omonije confirms that all algorithms have universal truths to them.

“You have these really high powered computers going through everything at once, really quickly, all the time,” Omonije said.

Algorithms track all sorts of user interactions to figure out user’s personality, from analyzing the people that they talk to, how long they look at the screen, the type of content they like, and more.

“They collect every single action and every single data point that you do and use these algorithms to create these huge graphs and webs and connections to piece together

what’s most important to you,” Omonije said.

The more a user interacts with a social media platform, the more data these algorithms collect and the better they become.

“These companies are incentivized to basically take as much data as possible and try to figure out how they can squeeze the most amount of information from each person and go from there,” Omonije said.

Users give social media companies permission to collect their data when they install the app and accept the terms of conditions. The Instagram Data Policy claims that this data is used to “better personalize the content (including ads) or features you see.”

Whether it’s because of data collection, the spread of misinformation, or the addictive nature of the apps, social media companies have come under fire for their actions.

Omonije believes that although tech companies have some responsibility for their actions, people continue to interact with social media platforms.

“Do you put it on the tech companies who are providing the service?” Omonije asked. “Do you put it on the people to not take autonomy over their own life? My stance is that no one is making you install Tiktok. No one is making you install Instagram. So if you don’t want to look at it, you could just delete it.”

While Omonije believes that social media users are the ones who decide whether or not they want to engage with an app, Forest Cummings-Taylor ’15, software engineer at Google, thinks that social media companies bear the brunt of the responsibility, especially in regards to taking down misinformation.

“Companies have the lion’s share of the responsibility, which is to, as much as possible, remove harmful content or misinformation from their platforms,” Cummings-Taylor said. “Companies have always had and will continue to have that responsibility.”

Both Omonije and Cummings-Taylor believe that users also play a key role in how they choose to engage with the content they see.

“It is also the responsibility of the user to not be entirely passive and to be aware of what they’re seeing and see content that could contain misinformation with a critical lens,” Cummings-Taylor said. “If you get news from a particular source, no matter what source you are consuming, you will be consuming it with a bias. It’s a fundamental bias, and it is an individual responsibility as well, to seek out different sources to balance out these biases

But being able to detect misinformation is difficult. In fact, a 2018 study revealed that people could identify fake news just 54 percent of the time.

People are more likely to interact with something that pops out at them, and when the algorithm’s primary

GRAPHIC JOSHUA GOFORTH

goal is to keep users on the app for as long as possible, the algorithm can start feeding users content they know the user will engage with, even if it isn’t accurate.

If someone is watching videos of really sensational news stories like, the easiest way to get that person to come back and continue to watch on that platform is to recommend sensational news videos

Cummings-Taylor adds that based on how an algorithm is trained, it can have intrinsic biases when deciding what to show people

“If you train the next iteration of Chat GPT on a corpus of websites, many of which, or even some of which display some kind of racial bias towards sensational news stories then that characteristic becomes part of Chat GPT, and it’s similar with social media algorithms,” Cummings-Taylor said.

Misinformation stemming from social media algorithms can not only trick users but also affect their mental well being.

Amy Blankson is a speaker and author on the intersection of happiness and technology, co-founding the Digital Wellness Institute and writing the bestselling book The Future of Happiness. Her work in the field has led her to the United Nations Global Happiness Council, becoming the only person to receive a Point of Light award from two presidents. Recently, she was named as a Master Motivator by the Dallas AI75 list which highlights the 75 most important people to artificial intelligence in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Considering their countless hours spent scrolling through social media, these algorithms target young teens especially. With their developing minds, teens see posts that can promote unhealthy dieting trends, dangerously radical views and harmful fake news.

“(Young people) often equate repetition with truth,” Blankson said. “The prefrontal cortex, responsible for judgment and critical thinking, isn’t fully developed until the early 20s. This makes it especially important to raise awareness about misinformation and empower teens to question what they see online rather than accepting it at face value.”

When creating a social media account, users must declare their age before moving forward. Due to the regulations surrounding the area, social media companies are wary of taking children’s data.

“Children’s data is a no-go,” Omonije said. “They’re not going to play with kid’s data because it’s not worth the liability if something happens”

But a study by the Advertising Standards Authority revealed that more than 80 percent of teens from the age of 11 to 15 lied about their age when registering for an account.

“THE THING THAT I LOVE ABOUT OUR METHODIST TRADITION IS THAT WE DON’T CHECK OUR BRAINS AT THE DOOR. WE REALLY ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO USE SCRIPTURE AS THEIR FOUNDATION.”

Users falsifying information when creating an account and the government’s general lack of understanding in this area makes regulating the actions of social media companies difficult.

“The government can try to do what it wants to do, but honestly, tech companies are a black box for them,” Omonije said. “There’s a reason why these companies are these companies. They would make more money going to work for private and the government. So the people at the government have no clue how it actually works. The people in tech are basically telling the government, ‘Oh, we’re gonna do all these practices. We’re gonna make our best efforts.’ But they’re not actually doing it. So it’s an interesting back and forth between them.”

Numerous studies have shown that time spent on social media is directly correlated with dangerous risk factors like depression, suicide, bullying and more. The frequent instances of misinformation and other harmful or unhealthy content only magnifies these effects.

JOSEPH SUN, SENIOR

“Research shows that a customer needs to hear a message around seven times before they act on it, and young people, who are still impressionable, can quickly find themselves considering unhealthy behaviors based on repeated exposure to such content,” Blankson said.

Other tactics used by content producers include distraction techniques which have been developed and researched since the 1970s. These include sounds, flashing lights and colors. Today, this is known as persuasive tech design, preying on the understanding of brain physiology to capture one’s attention.

“Some researchers call this the ‘race to the bottom of the brainstem,’ leading to what we now know as the attention economy—where the value is in how long an advertiser or platform can keep our focus,” Blankson said. “Misinformation plays into this trend by using shock or intrigue to pull viewers in and hold their attention.”

Blankson believes that, although the current state of misinformation is harmful, there are still some benefits to the way teens and consumers think and perceive content.

“It’s pushing people to question what they see, rather than accepting things at face value,” Blankson said. “In today’s world, we can’t automatically trust images, voices, writing, or even art without a second look. There’s a growing emphasis on valuing human creativity and authentic content, even when it’s inspired or assisted by AI.”

Despite the rampant misinformation on social media, Blankson still has hope for the future.

“I firmly believe there’s an important and achievable path forward, where social media can promote healthy, informed engagement while still offering creative expression.”

STUDENTS SCROLLING THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA ON THEIR PHONES.

IN CLOSING

With just a few taps and swipes on our phones, we can access the endless stream of information on the Internet. But even though we have more information than ever before, we also have more misinformation than ever before.

Just a few years ago, an AI-generated video of Will Smith eating pasta went viral on the Internet, and anyone who watched it could tell it was fake.

But now, we’re left grasping at straws. How many fingers are on that hand? Do the shadows match up with the angle of the light source? Are there any distortions in the background?

AI videos are becoming less and less distinguishable from real-life videos at an exponential rate, and it’s just a matter of time until even the sharpest eye will struggle to distinguish between what’s real and what’s fake.

As the supply of all information, including misinformation, floods blank to the point where we begin to feel overloaded and fatigued, the supply of truth plummets. As the truth becomes increasingly elusive, its pursuit becomes more and more essential.

That’s why we chose this topic for the magazine. To find out not just the extent to which misinformation has pervaded our daily lives but also what we could do about this ever-growing issue.

Because the information we accept matters. As you’ve read, it can affect our perceptions of societal issues, what we eat, who we vote for, and more.

Don’t simply accept the articles in this magazine as truth. Think critically. Use common sense. Push past your biases

As the difference between misinformation and information becomes undetectable, the only tried-and-tested tool you’ll have to find the truth is your mind.

JOSEPH SUN AND ARJUN POI EDITORS-IN-CHIEF

THe AGE OF MISINFORMATION. THe MATION. THe AGE OF MISINFORMATION.

MISINFORMATION. THe AGE OF MISINFORMATION.