4 Ways to Turn the Tables on Social Media

We are thrilled to feature the important voices and work of the many organizations and individuals that make up the Massachusetts Civic Learning Coalition on our blog. This post was written by Wendy Rivenburgh, Senior Associate at Education Development Center (EDC) and member of the MCLC since 2019. This post originally appeared on the EDC website.

Did you come to this post by way of social media? Are you about to jump to Twitter? YouTube? Instagram? Join the club.

More than 7 in 10 U.S. adults use some type of social media, according to Pew Research Center. Further, Common Sense Media found that this number is 96 percent for teens, and that 77 percent of teens get news and headlines from social media.

Social media platforms are powerful for their ease of access and reach. Users are both consumers and producers—browsing, sharing, and creating content with the click of a button. YouTube has 2 billion monthly users, and more than 500 hours of content are uploaded each minute.1The numbers are eye-popping, and false information proliferates.

Rampant misinformation and disinformation on social media is a titanic problem, and our democracy is drifting in dangerous waters. The good news is that media literacy skills can be taught.

This week, October 25–29, is Media Literacy Week in the United States. Each day highlights a different theme: Access, Analyze, Evaluate, Create, and Act. It’s a chance to elevate the importance of media literacy education—fundamental to being an informed, engaged citizen.

EDC joins the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE), the host of Media Literacy Week, in seeking to empower people of all ages to be media literate.

Media-literate people define their relationship to media content rather than let media content dictate their place in society. How do you wrest power from social media and use it in a positive way, on your terms? Here are some tips:

1. Be cool. Take a moment before reacting to or sharing social media content. Be reflective. Consider its effect on you and whether it has value to you or the people you might share it with.
2. Be curious. Ask yourself what’s the intent of the author. To inform? Persuade? Provoke? Sell something? What’s their bias? Look for clues in key words and visuals.
3. Be judgmental. Judge people and sources by the company they keep—that is, who follows or cites them. Be skeptical. The Stanford History Education Group advises looking at outside sources to establish the credibility of an information source—called “lateral reading”—like professional fact-checkers.
4. Be creative. What messages are breaking through? Whose voices are missing? Take the mic and represent your own unique perspective and values on social media.

 What are your strategies for navigating social media? What media literacy skills do you wish you had learned in school? Please share with us below.

For more information on media literacy, go to EDC’s Media Literacy Toolbox, which has tips, strategies, and resources for active learning with media.