Why having a measure of information on the internet is necessary for online users?

Gaurav Ojha

We live in an age of information, where internet users are constantly bombarded with loads of disinformation on the Internet. And as we spend hours on the internet checking news feeds and jumping between numerous online news portals and social networking sites in search of something interesting, entertaining, controversial, and weird all the time, we are utterly ignorant and irrespective of the fact that so much of information uploaded online is a half-baked truth, fake, mere projection, propaganda, fabrication, or a simple misattribution.

Similarly, journalists, writers, trend starters, bloggers, self-publishers, meme pages, social media closed groups and political pundits in Nepal have their own pressure to craft something irresistible for their online followers. After all, if it’s not interesting, entertaining, or provocative, it’s not viral online. Consequently, most of the news, analyses, and opinions we find in the online sphere are crafted on the basis of mere speculation, anticipation, and expectation, spiced up with a bit of controversy, satire, cynicism, and cheap sensationalism. Also, so much of what is posted online is based on events that were about to happen without ever happening, supported by fabricated statements that nobody made. Therefore, as online users we need have a measure of the information online to distinguish between viral and reliable.

Virality as a standard for quality

Moreover, when virality becomes a standout for the quality, relevance, and popularity of the content, people are prepared to go to any extreme to make their content viral; after all, it is virality that determines the quality, popularity, depth, and credibility of the content. As a result, even respected public intellectuals, politicians, critics, and reliable journalists indulge in the game of provocation and polarization in the online sphere. When virality often dictates the perceived quality of online content, users in Nepal need to realize that just because a piece of information spreads rapidly through different social media by multiple users, websites, online portals, groups, and other online platforms doesn’t entail or ensure that the shared viral content is valid, factual, and objective. Hence, online users in Nepal need to assess the credibility of sources, differentiate between fact and opinion, remain skeptical of the possibility of misinformation, and recognize prejudices latent in the viral online content.

Sadly, when virality becomes standard away from reasonable views and comments, it is the outrageous content that dominates the online sphere. Hence, it has become nearly impossible to distinguish a balanced piece of journalism or a thoughtful analysis from all the hoaxes, far-fetched analyses, and fake assertions swamping all over the online sphere. Besides measured, meaningful, and moderate public and political discourses, which are slowly losing their credibility, in most cases, rational and objective discussions have been replaced by thoughtless propaganda, blame games, conspiracy theories, mere cynicism, and polarizing views that try to provoke their readers by appealing to their prejudices.

Living within our own echo chambers

Here, online users in Nepal also need to realize that in the online sphere we are primarily exposed to information that mirrors our own preconceptions. As a result, we are becoming less capable of anticipating and appreciating other people’s viewpoints on online platforms. With algorithms and web cookies tracking us online, there is a danger of becoming trapped within tiny boxes of our own frame of references, prejudices, and preferences. Besides, this lack of exposure to diverse perspectives has increasingly climaxed into fragmented public discourse in Nepal, where we have become comfortable with our own echo chambers that present everything just as we think, believe, and subscribe.

Don’t overlook the measure of the information

Simultaneously, on the information highway of cyberspace, people often overlook the measure of the information. For example, online users tend to presume that the information has some kind of depth, fairness, relevance, coverage, credibility, and significance because a particular piece of information has been shared on a popular online platform. Hence, even information manufactured for propaganda and misinformation becomes viral when people simply decide to ignore the evidence that is necessary to make information credible, valid, and reliable.

Furthermore, cherry-picking of data for confirming a particular position is rather common on online platforms. People upload incomplete evidence and edited trend lines to prove their particular point while ignoring a significant portion of the evidence that may undermine their perspective.

Here, online users need to understand that based on the vast amount of information available online, we are fulminated with only those contents that resembles and reflects our online preferences. Hence, as online users, we end up having a lopsided perception of reality rather than understanding reality as an intricate system where issues are complex, diverse, interconnected, and inclusive of references we have either overlooked or ignored.

More importantly, as the online sphere frames so much of our political, social, and public discussion and decisions offline, therefore, as online users in Nepal, rather than hopping on the online sphere with our impulses, ignorance, and prejudices, it’s always better to ask questions, analyze, read between the lines, seek evidence, separate possibilities from mere posturing, discern bits of truth from the loads of hoaxes, and use our critical thinking whenever it is necessary.


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