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We hear about misinformation and fake news every day. People lose money to scammers. It seems like you cannot trust anything or anybody. How can you know what to believe? How do you evaluate information?
It may sound weird, but the first step is to trust yourself. Trust your common sense. That means giving yourself time to think. Don’t press “forward” or “share” before you’ve looked at the content with a very healthy dose of skepticism.
Police officers and journalists are taught the ABC: Assume nothing. Believe no one. Check everything. Do not assume an article signed by Prof. XYZ is proof of what you’re researching – check his information against at least one other article. Do not assume the person who wrote an article actually spoke to the person she’s quoting – people make things up. Do not believe the caption below a sensational picture is true and correct. Do not believe a sensational WhatsApp message just because it comes from your best mate. Check.
In these days of AI, that is even more important. When AI gives you the answer to a question, it is so well written and so well structured that it sounds totally believable, especially if your first language isn’t English so that “good English” sounds impressive. Treat it as you would any other source. Do not assume that it is correct. Do not believe everything it tells you. AI very often makes mistakes. Once again, trust yourself. If you happen to know something which clashes with what the AI answer gives you, check. Follow the links provided (the little chain icons) to check the sources. If it does not provide links, ask: “Give me the sources for this answer.” Then consider those sources – how reliable is You magazine, for example? Perhaps the star you googled did not actually get married in Mauritius!
AI will give you a summary at the top of the page when you type a question into Google. Do not accept that as necessarily true and correct. Do not treat AI as an expert. Rather see it as a very good, eager new research assistant who has put everything it could possible find into one answer. For example, if you ask Gemini to write a biography of your best friend, it may tell you the person has passed away – because there may be someone else with the same name who has indeed died. AI has no way of knowing the difference.
Let’s say you receive a sensational whatsapp. Look at it carefully:
In general, apply what is known as the CRAAP test:
- Currency: when was it written? Have circumstances/facts changed since then?
- Relevance: is this information really applicable to the issue?
- Authority: who wrote it? Are they credible?
- Accuracy: is it true? Do they give evidence? Can you verify it from another source?
- Purpose: why was it written and sent to you? Is it fact or opinion? Are they trying to sell something, or convince you of a point of view?
The AI summaries above Google’s article list have little link icons after every statement, which refer to the source documents where it found the information. This is very helpful. Go there. Check the date. Always look for the most recent information. Then check who wrote it. Are they credible? Is it fact or opinion? Believe a court verdict before you believe a statement by a lobby group.
Be very careful when you are asked to click on a link. It can easily be “phishing”, where opening a link downloads a virus to your phone or computer, which steals or corrupts your information. Look at this example:
This leads us to staying safe online. Most of us do our banking online these days. You do not want those details to fall into the hands of scammers and thieves. So: be careful out there. A few tips:
- Use strong passwords, especially when it comes to banking and money. That can be a pain – how do you dream them up and remember them? One easy recipe is to use a word or two in a language other than English combined with numbers, like 1Lock2Securely! in isiZulu for your banking login.
- Watch out for phishing, as we described above.Banks always warn that they will not request your PIN in an email. Do not provide it, even if the email looks legitimate.
- When you buy online, you have to give credit card or banking details – exactly what the scammers are looking for. Make sure that you only buy from secure sites. One indication is an address that starts with https: rather than only http:. The S stands for secure. Secure sites may also be marked by a padlock icon next to the address.
- Be careful about the personal information you give out on social media. You will not tell any stranger at a party your most personal stories – why put them on social media? Remember, it is out there forever.
- For the same reason, resist the temptation to send sex videos or naked selfies. Relationships go sour and people turn nasty. What if they forward it to a WhatsApp group?
- Dating apps are fertile hunting grounds for bad guys, both male and female. Don’t tell the sexy stranger things that will make you vulnerable. They may be catfishing, in other words it may be a false profile set up to start a “relationship” and then trick you out of money; or to charm you into a meeting where you will not be safe. Keep your distance. Make the first meeting in a crowded place in broad daylight. Never send money for a bus ticket to come and visit or for any other reason. Get to know them in the real world first.
Happy studying!
The GRAD team
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GRAD – your guide to university success is a partnership project of Ruda Landman, StudyTrust, Van Schaik Publishers and Capitec Bank.