Regardless of all the various disadvantages to going online, students today will use the internet to gain access to information. But there are inherent dangers of them doing this. While the internet is brimming with all kinds of information, that does not mean that it is good information.Frequently, online users will go to search engines such as Google or Yahoo and type in phrases in order to find information. But search engines like these have no filter; they bring up any and all information that can be found. It is up to the users to decide for themselves what information is valuable, and their decisions are not always correct.
What happens often online is that searchers will stop at the first information that they come to, regardless of whether or not it is correct. This often occurs because of the power browse motion in which users read a webpage. Users will process the material at the top of the page, but will not scroll down to see what further conclusions are made from this information. Although the website may state one conclusion at the beginning, the site may actually refute this information by coming to a different conclusion at the end of the site. This results in the user being misinformed. It is a real danger when using online material, as users can easily be misinformed, or become distracted by false information.
In addition, today's online users do not frequently verify the information that they receive on the internet. They simply take it as true, assuming that someone of importance has uploaded the information. But realistically, anyone with an internet connection can upload information to the internet, as seen in our page on the online community. The internet is simply waiting there for anyone to say anything - whether it is true or not.
One of the risks of misinformation is that people intentionally place false information on the internet in order to cause mishap, or gain from the ensuing confusion. One rather frequent trend occurring recently is that on Twitter, users are frequently informed that someone important or famous has died - such people as Bill Nye, Tiger Woods, even Denzel Washington have all "died" at least once according to Twitter. Once one user hears it, they send out a "tweet" about the death, which quickly spreads throughout the media site until most users have seen and reproduced the information. But in the end, the famous person "miraculously" reappears, much to the happiness of their fans. But this rampage on Twitter is the perfect example of misinformation - false reports that users latch onto, and not only believe, but reproduce themselves.
The impact that online information can have on students is a dangerous one. If users begin to trust every piece of information that they come into contact with online, they will never be truly informed - only misinformed. Should we trust everything online without verification, we will not be living in the information age, but rather the misinformation age.
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Sources:
"Bill Nye Victim of Death Hoax." GossipCop.com November 16th, 2011. Link.
"Gerard Way Not Dead - False Reports Enrage My Chemical Romance Fans." Lalate.com November 12th, 2011. Link.
Pictures from: Freedom of Research, and Bobsearch Blog
