President University - Social media is utilized by a variety of people. Social media makes it simple to get a variety of information. The news may be quickly distributed and accessible by other social media users in seconds.
Fake news is often distributed, provoking a public backlash. Fake news is referred to as a hoax. A hoax is a piece of false news designed to conceal actual facts. There are those who purposefully cause others to be restless and believe. In other words, as an attempt to distort the facts. If there is no caution, netizens can easily fall victim to hoaxes and even contribute to spreading false information, which would, of course, be extremely harmful to the victims of slander.
President University recently hosted a webinar with the topic Recognizing and Preventing Hoaxes During a Pandemic on Friday (21/10) to prevent this escalation. This webinar included two speakers: Juwandi Ahmad, S.Psi., M.Sc., a lecturer at the Faculty of Psychology at Mercu Buana University in Yogyakarta, and Haris Herdiansyah, S.Psi., M.Si., a lecturer of Communication Studies Program at PresUniv.
According to Juwandi, who stated about Menelisik Akar Hoax yang Kian Mewabah that are Increasingly Contagious, there are two roots that cause hoaxes to spread. The two roots are a lack of digital media literacy and a trust issue, which generates prejudice and hatred. Data and information literacy, he claims, is the most important component of low digital literacy. "It requires critical thinking abilities, such as being able to compare facts or information with one another, understanding who authored it, where it came from, and if it can be believed," Juwandi explained. He went on to say that uncritical thinking will result in meaningless clicks and shares.
According to him, a trust problem would lead to prejudice and hatred. For example, a photograph of an accident was afterward shared with the narrative that it was a photograph of a Rohingya victim. "Because there is already prejudice and hostility in the society, the news story will be easier to believe and spread. Despite the fact that the photograph is of an ordinary accident, "Juwandi stated. He also stated that we should be cautious of things we don't know since they might lead to believing in fake news.
Haris, who spoke on The Rebuilding Trust, agreed with Juwandi regarding the trust issue. Haris stated that because trust has been shattered, hoaxes would be easier to disseminate. In his talk on rebuilding trust, he also discussed the trust triangle, the amount of emotion, and shattered trust.
At the most basic level, there is emotion, and at that level, there is institutional trust and respect, with the notion of collaboration or mutual benefits. Above it, there is truth and trust (confidence) that develop through time in the form of attachment or cohesion. Then, at the highest level, there is personal trust (commitment), and at this level, passion and loyalty exist. "In a relationship, the first level is an introduction, the second is courting, and the top level is marriage," Haris explained. If that trust is shattered, the lowest degree of it is betrayal, which leads to hatred, then comes to disappointment.
Based on the description above regarding rebuilding trust, Haris recommended that keeping trust is crucial, even if it might be tough at times since once trust is lost, it is difficult to restore.
Now that we know how crucial trust and digital literacy are in preventing hoaxes, all we have to do is educate ourselves and the society, and be clever about determining which news is good and which isn't.
