Misinformation, Disinformation, and Propaganda: Pause Before Sharing

Pause and give yourself time to reflect on sources that play on your emotions. Helpful advice about sharing online news stories from Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers by Michael Arthur Caulfield:

"When you feel strong emotion — happiness, anger, pride, vindication — and that emotion pushes you to share a "fact" with others, STOP. Above all, it’s these things that you must fact-check.

Why? Because you’re already likely to check things you know are important to get right, and you’re predisposed to analyze things that put you an intellectual frame of mind. But things that make you angry or overjoyed, well… our record as humans are not good with these things."

Book Excerpt: Build a Fact-Checking Habit by Checking Your Emotions