A Personal Journey Through Digital Deception
Social media, once a digital playground for silly cat videos, has evolved into a full-blown information dumpster fire.
Do lies spread nowadays? Sure, but so can truth. And while we all want to be enlightened citizens, finding a reliable and unbiased source for information on the internet can be daunting, so the onus is on us cyber surfers to discern facts from all that other crazy stuff.
Peddled on Facebook, X, Instagram and other social media platforms, misinformation is often designed to trigger a strong emotional reaction, especially outrage or fear, to encourage rapid sharing. Research shows that everyone, regardless of which demographic we may fall into, is susceptible to this sometimes malicious tactic of deception.
The other day I was responding to a message I received from my 93-year-old former high school swimming coach on Facebook, but I somehow got distracted by a grainy black-and-white video showing a fluffle of bunnies hopping on a trampoline.
After watching the video loop a few times, I realized I had fallen victim to a clever social media prankster using artificial intelligence (AI). Fortunately, no animals were harmed, but my wife had fun busting my chops over my gullibility.
Even so, that little devil on my left shoulder told me to return to my Facebook page and subject myself to more posts from my so-called “friends.” Hours later, I was sitting in the dark, still scrolling mindlessly through an endless stream of memes when I came across the headline “BREAKING NEWS!”
Under the banner, there were images of our secretary of defense with claims he donated his $12.9 million annual bonus to homeless support centers in his hometown of Minneapolis. C’mon, really?! That’s a helluva bonus considering his salary is only $245,000 a year.
All kidding aside, whether it’s an AI-generated video of bouncing bunnies or a fabricated meme about a bogus bonus, our boundless capacity for believing just about anything we see online is truly a testament to our digital naïveté.
Consider this: Would you call the phone number you found on the wall of a public bathroom for a good time? Probably not.
So, why would you suspend your critical thinking when a meme with a poorly cropped image and a shocking headline appears on your Facebook feed?
While videos and memes like the ones I mentioned are created for the purpose of harmless entertainment, social media misinformation becomes a serious issue when it causes real-world harm, exploits human psychology to spread rapidly and erodes trust in vital institutions.
Its impact escalates from benign online noise to a dangerous threat and can have devastating effects on people, especially those who are the most susceptible to exploitation — such as the chronically ill, people with disabilities and those who depend upon others to survive.
For instance, patients with a spinal cord injury and disease sometimes experience barriers in accessing in-person health care, or they feel ignored by their doctors. As a result, they become desperate and turn to the internet for alternatives.
Unfortunately, their vulnerabilities are often exploited by malicious actors spreading false hopes, promoting dangerous “cures,” eroding trust in medical professionals and perpetuating harmful stereotypes that can result in long-term physical and mental health issues.
Some of the most prevalent misinformation includes exaggerated claims about stem cell therapy, misleading portrayals of functional electrical stimulation and the promotion of ineffective or outdated drugs. And, while prayer is an important practice for many people and some individuals have reported miraculous recoveries, there’s no scientific evidence to suggest that praying alone will eliminate paralysis.
These misconceptions often exploit
the hope for a cure and can lead patients to delay or forgo proven rehabilitative therapies for expensive, unproven and potentially harmful interventions.
Obviously, this deception works because too often I see someone on YouTube standing in his or her kitchen claiming he or she discovered a cure for a common ailment that Big Pharma is supposedly suppressing, or that doctors are beholden to the insurance industry and consequently not acting in your best interests.
So, why is it so easy to fall prey to evil-doers who troll the internet? Why do lies spread faster than the truth? Experts have long criticized the use of social media algorithms, especially those that are created to maximize user engagement, often amplifying content that aligns with a user’s existing beliefs by prioritizing emotionally charged, sensational content.
In 2024, the National Institutes of Health reported that 82% of U.S. adult social media users perceived false or misleading health information on these platforms, and 67% of social media users reported difficulty in discerning true from false information online.
We all know there’s a problem. But the United States government won’t do much to combat misinformation due to the First Amendment to the Constitution that allows for free speech. But there are some organizations that try to set the record straight.
For example, following the World Health Organization’s declaration of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in 2020, conspiracies ran rampant on social media regarding the source of the contagion, how it’s spread and alternative treatments.
Fortunately, there’s evidence that some folks took the time to investigate this barrage of misinformation before sharing questionable claims or engaging in violent activity.
In a study conducted at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 2023, researchers found that fact-checking activity surged at Snopes, PolitiFact and Logically leading up to and in response to the pandemic. However, a surge in fact-checking doesn’t always result in the mitigation of misinformation.
Turns out, we’re hardwired to believe things that confirm our existing beliefs, even if those beliefs are about a global conspiracy involving lizard people secretly eating our brains or, in this case, scientists allegedly spreading misinformation about a pandemic. This is called confirmation bias, and it’s like a tiny, enthusiastic cheerleader in our heads, constantly rooting for whatever already resonates with us.
The solution? As far as social media is concerned, I suggest we treat every day as if it’s April Fools’ Day. Let’s enjoy a healthy dose of paranoia and marvel at the gullibility of others while basking in the glow of our own superior critical thinking skills.
The internet is a powerful tool, capable of keeping us connected and informed. But it’s certainly not a replacement for a trusted news source, a reliable medical professional or even a good old-fashioned encyclopedia (remember those?).
So, let’s laugh at the absurdities, acknowledge our own moments of online gullibility and cultivate a healthy sense of digital discernment. Our collective sanity might just depend on it.
As always, please share your thoughts with me at al@pvamag.com.
