Hello Everyone.
I appreciate the time you are taking to stop by and read my ramblings - especially since this particular blog post is called "I just need to rant." Because I do.
About people. Because I am annoyed.
I LOVE Facebook. I really do. I love being connected to people and seeing what is going on, and sharing my life with my friends and family. I just did a little app and since I started on facebook 8 years ago I have spent 33 days and 12 hours on facebook. That's over a month! I really do like it. It relaxes me and I won't admit that I'm addicted to it, but I won't deny it either.
Here's my beef.
Articles.
That people post.
Without looking at them closely.
I honestly feel like my generation and the generation that is slightly younger than me (that's you 20-somethings) really suck at remembering how our teachers drilled into us the important of using reliable sources when doing internet research. We are so inundated with information, articles, clips, quotes, blogs, information, information, information, that we read anything that has a catchy title and picture and don't stop to think if what we are reading is true and reputable, or if Joe-Shmoe in his mom's basement wrote this article. Because we all know, and easily forget, anyone can put anything on the internet. And here's the shocker - these "anybodys" can say they are Dr's or experts, or researchers, but they aren't.
I'm so beyond irritated with the number of articles that pop up in my news feed that people comment on and share because they are full of 'great' or 'interesting' or 'I've been saying this for years, now this article proves it'
Are they really great? They might be interesting, but are they true? Does the article actually prove it or does it just seem like it does because the author is convincing and writes well?
Anyways, to all my people out there who want to share information with the world, lets look deeper and share real, legitimate, reliable information.
Here's some tips on finding out if an article is reliable:
1. Verify that the educational credits of the author.
2. See if the article is published in a scholarly journal.(Articles that are published in scholarly journals are scrutinized for accuracy. A publisher has a reputation to protect)
3. All articles must be peer-reviewed by at least two people in a similar field in order for it to be considered legitimate research. (This means that articles/books are reviewed and assessed by a panel of professionals. They work as a jury to ensure an articles truthfulness)
4. Is the author employed by a research facility or university
5. Does the URL end in .edu or .gov, if it end's in .com or .org it is less likely to be held accountable for the truth of it's content
6. Does the author have a bibliography. They need to cite where they are getting their information from.
7. The bibliography should be extensive and should cite scholarly non-internet sources.
8. Is the article personal and rely heavily on personal opinion?
9. No blogs count as a reliable source UNLESS the author is an established expert whose work in the relevant field has been published by a reliable third-party publication. (Same goes for anything off of Buzz-Feed or Wikipedia)
That's my rant. Stop believing every piece of information that comes your way. Look deeper, look harder, don't be gullible. And if one day you find that you can no longer stalk my very exciting life on facebook, it's because I've seen what you are posting and I think you are an idiot and want nothing to do with the invalid propaganda you are spreading.
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