Ok, this is not going to be a well formulated question, because the concerns behind it are nebulous in my own head.
Some assumptions I have, that clearly inform the question that follows: I believe commercial, state, and others have sophisticated methods of influencing what I see on social media and thus, in part, what I think. I also believe that someone more willing to believe in the types of conspiratorial beliefs I’ve just expressed are more likely to be manipulated by information they’re exposed to. And, yes, I fully appreciate the irony of those beliefs.
My child is adult enough that belief patterns I encourage are very unlikely to become deep patterns. That is, I’d have to work to indoctinate my son, and he’d actively resist if my indoctrination was outside of societal norms.
He didn’t grow up exposed to the social media I suspect children do now.
How does a parent inoculate a child to the influence of social media without also creating a mindset willing to believe in a nebulous “them” that controls things—a mindset, I believe, that makes a person more likely to be controlled?
Instead of focusing on specifics (online, “they”) focus on the basics.
Where does any piece of information come from? What are the underlying assumptions in it? How is it framed? How is it circulated? What effect does it have? Etc. If people automatically think critically, they are way less susceptible.
In my mind there is no them, but individuals, trying to achieve their own goals. Everyone has some incentive to misinterpret and twist truth. It might be just so it fits with their own biases and world view little better. The only reasonable way to use information online is to follow evidence based information and look for trusthworthy official sources.
I found that Minecraft is actually a pretty good teacher. There are servers (like hypixel.net) out there where kids can play different games or buy plots of lands with coins to run shops and stuff.
My kid has seen people advertising bullshit, scams, manipulation, but also genuinely good and nice people but also betrayal from people he thought to be good.
The manipulation isn’t as good as in the real world. But it’s good enough for discussions on how it’s done in the real world.
Interesting concept to have Minecraft as a kind of safe space to learn about idiots and necessary precautions on the internet. My kids are 3 and 4, so the age of Minecraft is right around the corner and I’m looking forward to it :)
I would agree with the other comments here and say the best thing to do would be to vet sources. Things like ‘looking through a commenter’s history’ or ‘reading the About Us section of a news site’ and ‘looking at more than just the top 3 results from Google for sources’.
My son was taught in school (UK) how to research on the web. You can never be sure how much they take in but he asked us one day why we were still watching the main stream news broadcasters - BBC, Sky, ITN. In a space of a couple of minutes he produced the original from the web for most of their stories, alternative views and pros and cons for most of the views. I learnt a lot that day and can honestly say I think his school did an excellent job. He does his own research and forms his own opinion - sometimes I don’t agree but that’s OK - the key is he can articulate his reasoning and provide evidence to support his view. I’m not sure as a parent if I’d have been as good a teacher or as impartial. I’m happy it’s part of the syllabus in UK - I’m really not sure I’d be so happy if we lived in Florida for the school to teach it. Too much state intervention.
For some reason this feels really strange to hear from the uk. I was under the impression things where moving more authoritarian with face detection cameras, encryption forbidden and id for pornsites. Usually those kind of government hate informed citizens and push propaganda. But maybe its just me who has been propagandized about the uk ¯_(ツ)_/¯
