Navigating Digital Information #10

Multiple Choice

"These apps have not-so-subtly become embedded in our daily lives very quickly."

What does embedded mean?

• to bring into danger or peril; to create a dangerous situation

• occupy, attract, or involve (someone's interest or attention).

• implanted within something else so it becomes an essential characteristic of it.

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Apps have changed our perceptions and expectations of

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and they've also helped to shape our offline experience.

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What's shared online has ​

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.

Open Ended

Are you on social media (Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Reddit, etc.)? What do you do on your social media? Do you include your real name or details about your life? Why or why not? (Write at least 3 complete sentences.)

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The big problem with all of that is that ​

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of US adults get news through some form of social media.

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Prior to social media, it was ​

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to have your voice heard in a large public forum. And, because all the posts in our feeds look ​

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, social media has allowed people to have voices in public discourse who previously would have been​

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by power structures.

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really difficult

more or less equal

silenced

Open Ended

What is one way you can find information through social media that would be otherwise difficult to find? (Answer with at least one complete sentence.)

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Social media companies make money by ​

Select answer

.

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Ads on social media are very different from billboards or ads in a ​

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, because these ads were crafted ​

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, or people like you, based on what social media companies ​

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.

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local newspaper

just for you

know about you

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You can check your favorite apps and disable ​

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where you can, these features may fall under ​

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or ​

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settings.

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data and location tracking

ad preferences

security or privacy

Multiple Choice

Social media companies want you to stay engaged with their app or site for as long as possible; so they show you stuff...

• that challenges your worldview

• that you already like

• that informs you on topics you aren't familiar with

• that expands your interests

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Most news feed algorithms are skewed toward ​

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rather than truth.

Multiple Choice

Hundreds of websites were built on false viral stories leading up to the 2016 U.S. election, and Buzzfeed later found out many were run by...

• teenagers in Macedonia

• reliable journalists in the United States

• experts from all over the world

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Ultimately, it's on us as users not to fall down these rabbit holes, not to go merely where the light is on. That's why I think it's so important to follow accounts with ​

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, and to turn off ​

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if you can, and, in general, to try to unwind the algorithmic web around your ​

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.

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differing viewpoints

data tracking

social media life

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No matter where you begin, ​

Select answer

will help you get the information you're looking for.