Is the digital age better informed than the pre-digital one?

 “The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge.”— Stephen Hawking. 

Many people believe that the digital generation is better informed than the pre-digital one. Owing to the easy access to information and its democratization, what can be achieved through such a novel and quick transportation of knowledge is not short of a miracle. Yet at the same time what can be done because of such an easy spread of ideas doesn’t fall short of a dystopian novel. It’s owing to these factors coupled with the rise of algorithms that are synonymous with the digital agewhich have led to a rise in echo chambers. It gave rise to more susceptible to misinformation, fake news, and propaganda than any previous generation resulting in a greater risk of being ill-informed; therefore, by default, making the pre-digital generation a better informed one. While the dangers of this may seem trivial and far-fetched. We did witness it several times in the recent past, be it the unwarranted hate towards Asian Americans during the pandemic (Jill Cowan, ny times) or the rise in violent attacks inflicted upon transgenders and the rise in transphobia after the manufactured fake news about Imane khalif’s gender (Li Zhou, vox). Or the rhetoric of vaccines causing autism in children ( Monica L wang, Boston University ). All these incidents and many more are the cumulative byproduct of fake news. The previous generation witnessed the dangers of a possible nuclear war. The digital generation is far more harmful. You don’t need weapons to terrorize and conquer anymore when you can have people turn against each other. 

 To understand which generation is better informed. First, we need to familiarize ourselves with what information truly means. Technically, it simply means when facts are provided or learned about something or someone. But does all “information“hold the same gravity? I do not think so, because the information about Kim Kardashian’s new boyfriend and what Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent public address had to offer might be on the same feed but both aren’t equally important. Furthermore, I would also like to define what it truly means to be “informed “. The Oxford Dictionarydefines it as having or knowing the knowledge of a particular subject or situation. But is that it? An informed individual is a person who has a reasonable understanding of the current social, political, and economic world surrounding them. They don’t have to know everything about everything but they are aware of what’s happening and the facts of the situation. Not everyone needs to be “well informed” but that doesn’t mean that simply by being born in the digital generation one is better informed or well informed. I’d argue the opposite.

 Earlier it was comparatively easier to classify people as informed or uninformed. Either one read the newspaper or they didn’t. There wasn’t much scope for any other path. Fake news and sensationalism did exist as it is rooted in human nature, but they weren’t being as aggressively pushed as they are in a modern-day digital algorithm-driven, capitalistic society. The rise of digital media has led to a new generation of people who are “ill-informed”. Having information, not based on facts because in the digital age engaging with all sorts of information is no longer a voluntary practice. And with the readily disposable modern age tech such as morphed audios, images and even entire articles. ( Rachel Metz, CNN) . Making someone believe a lie as a “fact” is easier than ever. Now people are either informed or ill-informed. Everyone knows the headline now but everyone thinks it happened for a different reason. This is because, in the digital age, it’s easier to spread false narratives and propaganda. We’re living in an age of misinformation where there can be a dozen different kinds of narratives all of which may only be a half-truth serving one agenda or the other. Conspiracy theories have never been more widely spread and accepted. This isn’t because the digital generation is less intelligent than the non-digital one but simply because it has never been easier to spread an idea and forge details so minute that people will believe all of it. (Christopher Mims, WSJ) 

 To understand better the very real ill effects of this phenomenon. I would like to illustrate it with the help of an example that took place not that long ago. On January 6th, 2021, a crowd of thousands stormed the US capital. It was not simply a physical attack but also a symbolic attack on American democracy and the looming dangers of propaganda over it. But how is it that thousands of American citizens were successfully provoked to endanger their own nation’s democracy? The answer is QAnon, a far-right American political conspiracy theory and political movement. QAnon personalities organized and waged information warfare in an attempt to influence the 2020 presidential elections. One in 50 tweets about voting in the 2020 United States presidential election came from QAnon accounts. Two in 25 accounts using the hashtag #voterfraud, which spread unsubstantiated allegations of voting fraud, were QAnon accounts. (Collins B, NBC) The natural question arises why did such incidents not occur in the pre-digital age? The fact of the matter is they did, be it Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia. History has witnessed the ill effects of propaganda in the pre-digital age too. The only difference is that in the pre-digital age, it was tougher to spread ideas beyond a certain territory as well as easier to control them. But now, in the digital age, ideas are global and cracking down on them is nearly impossible. For instance, in the case of QAnon, social media giants banning such posts didn’t help as much as one would have hoped. (Wilson Jason,The Guardian ) Because followers simply flocked to sites with loose regulations. The amount of content that can be regulated on social media is only finite but the content and its distribution channels are infinite.

 To summarize, the internet should be rightfully credited for democratizing knowledge and making it accessible to the most remote parts of the world. Anyone with a will to learn and a WiFi connection can learn any skill to an impressive degree. People now more than ever can be actively engaged and informed about the day-to-day situations surrounding them. Yet this has come with its fair share of problems. One generation may not be superior to the other as it all boils down to individual differences. Yet the evidence in the form of the rise of fake news and its effects showcases that the pre-digital age was a better informed one as it had more of a free will to be or not be engaged in the process of taking information and was exposed to drastically less amounts of fake news and propaganda. As the great author Mark Twain once said, A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes. 

 

Works Cited

Cowan, Jill. “Looking at the Rise of Anti-Asian Racism in the Pandemic.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 Mar. 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/03/19/us/anti-asian-racism-pandemic.html.

 

Alba, Davey. “How Anti-Asian Activity Online Set the Stage for Real-World Violence.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 Mar. 2021, www.nytimes.com/2021/03/19/technology/how-anti-asian-activity-online-set-the-stage-for-real-world-violence.html

 

Zhou, Li. “The Misleading Controversy over an Olympic Women’s Boxing Match, Briefly Explained .” Vox, 2 Aug. 2024, www.vox.com/sports/364856/olympics-boxing-imane-khelif-angela-carini.

 

Trachtenberg, Ari, and Wt. “Pov: Health Misinformation Is Rampant on Social Media.” Boston University, 9 Feb. 2024, www.bu.edu/articles/2024/health-misinformation-rampant-on-social-media/

 

Metz, Rachel. “The Number of Deepfake Videos Online Is Spiking. Most Are Porn | CNN Business.” CNN, Cable News Network, 7 Oct. 2019, www.cnn.com/2019/10/07/tech/deepfake-videos-increase/index.html

 

Mims, Christopher. Is Anything Still True? On the Internet, No One Knows Anymore - WSJ, www.wsj.com/tech/ai/deepfake-video-is-anything-still-true-on-the-internet-89843150

 

“Capitol Riots Timeline: What Happened on 6 January 2021?” BBC News, BBC, 2 Aug. 2023, bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56004916. 

 

Forrest, Brett. “What Is QAnon? What We Know about the Conspiracy-Theory Group.” WSJ, 4 Feb. 2021, www.wsj.com/articles/what-is-qanon-what-we-know-about-the-conspiracy-theory-11597694801.

 

Collins, Ben. “Qanon Accounts Make a Dent in Voting Discussion on Twitter.” NBCNews.Com, NBCUniversal News Group, 17 Oct. 2020, www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/qanon-accounts-make-dent-voting-discussion-twitter-n1243748.

 

Wilson, Jason. “Rightwingers Flock to ‘Alt Tech’ Networks as Mainstream Sites Ban Trump.” The Gaurdian, 13 Jan. 2021, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/13/social-media-trump-ban-alt-tech-far-right.

Myers, Steven Lee. “How Social Media Amplifies Misinformation More than Information.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 14 Oct. 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/10/13/technology/misinformation-integrity-institute-report.html?smid=url-share.

 

Hsu, Tiffany. “Worries Grow That TikTok Is New Home for Manipulated Video and Photos.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 4 Nov. 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/11/04/technology/tiktok-deepfakes-disinformation.html?smid=url-share.