Have you noticed how ridiculous the news has gotten? How many media articles that seem like news are just ridiculous topics? This is what I like to call, "distraction news". I define distraction news as news that distracts you from the real topics and draw you into their stupidity. Example, Melania Trump was mocked and made fun of all over social media for wearing heels when they went to visit Texas. SO real problem? Texas disaster. Media problem? Melania wore heels.
DailyMail even got on it!
Plus the New York Times...
Oh and People Politics
This is the news we care about?
This is what the news has turned to and it is now more important than ever that we fact check what we read and also think about what we read. It is easy to get pulled into this stuff. Someone reading the Melania article might think, "Yeah! What was she doing? Omg that's my First Lady?"
That is when a second needs to be taken to think about your morals. Is Melania's shoe choice really what should be determining how I feel about her? The article encourages you to feel this way when it sucks you up.
Big media websites are pulling readers in with the catchy titles and then the readers are taking it as the truth and referencing what they read as fact in debates. In my spare time, I like to go into the comment sections of Facebook videos and read the debates people are having. It is very entertaining and when it's really obvious I fact check their info and send it to them. I found an article by TheOnion and in the comments people were arguing. Now if anyone did their homework they would realize that the onion is a fake news website. It is just entertainment.
How to tell if an article is fake or has false info:
1. Are there any comments on it? Any controversial article, or any article at all for that matter, has something going on in the comments. If it doesn't then there might not be for a reason.
2. Check where the info is cited from. If all of their data is from bias sites then even their data might be skewed. Skewed data and faulty facts give you false info.
3. Check the domain. For example, TheOnion is not a real news site.
What to take from this? Please fact check your articles and make sure they are real before you use them as fact. Also be sure to take a couple seconds and think about the article you are reading and gauge whether or not its distraction news and if its worth your time.