[Pure Opinion] Why Good Journalism Is Crucial to The Future of the Humanity

One of the facts of today’s world is that most people in the developed world turn to Social Media to find out what’s happening in the world.

Majority of “news” that we see in Social Media are OVERSIMPLIFIED and modified to attract ATTENTION.

There is a VERY VERY REAL danger to this that most people do not realize.

They cut down a 1 hour debate/interview/news article and cherry pick 30 seconds of the dialogue that sounds “provoking” and treat it in isolation + place clickbait-y titles that are negative because human brains are more sensitive to “negative” news.

This is further reinforced by this platforms in the form of the algorithms that determine what they show in each user’s feed to maximize the time they spend on these platforms. They are literally built, to feed you attention grabbing shit so you spend more time on their platforms irregardless of the validity/authenticity of that content piece.

Influencers read these, then repost them in their own profiles, and these become “gospel” for their thousands of followers who then take these as literal fact.

You multiply this multiple times over the course of a few weeks, and that can easily lead a user to ONLY see the type of content that supports the narratives that are in their heads, becoming one-track minded and seeing no other perspectives because of these algorithms combined with poor, lazy and journalism that preys on the ignorant.

Be responsible and aware humans. Check your sources of news, read the whole article and for the love of all that’s good in humanity and you’re an influencer, your audience is highly susceptible to your perceptions.

If you retweet/reshare bullshit irresponsibly, you’re amplifying the levels of ignorance and bullshit in the world and therefore, part of the problem.

Good journalism seeks to EDUCATE and INFORM the public so they can make better decisions in life and hold their leaders accountable. If all you see is half baked, sensationalized material and being strongly advocated by extremely popular figures, you’ve basically condemned an entire population to make poor decisions from questionable information.