As more seniors go online, they are largely being left out of digital literacy efforts, making them targets for misinformation and hyperpartisan rhetoric
Older people play an outsized role in civic life. They also are more likely to be online targets for misinformation and hyperpartisan rhetoric. Tweets: @craigsilverman , @lageneralista , @markdistef , @waltmossberg , @owillis , @anildash , and @buzzfeedben Tweets: Craig Silverman / @craigsilverman : Older people are deeply struggling with digital literacy and as a result are targeted by fake news, malware, scams, and hyperpartisan rhetoric online. They need help and support but aren't getting it. My story: http://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ... Alicia Wanless / @lageneralista : Nearly half the populations of Canada, the US and the UK graduates high school before the web was invented - kind of hard for most to keep up. Where are the broad “critical intellectual health” campaigns to help them live well in an Information Age? http://twitter.com/... Mark Di Stefano / @markdistef : For all those people losing their shit at “student” activist group Turning Point UK's godawful memes — As @CraigSilverman explains here, Turning Point USA has been finding an audience for its videos, ads, memes among *drum roll*........... boomers! http://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ... Walt Mossberg / @waltmossberg : This tweet understates how good this piece is. It's thorough and worrisome - for the aging population, for the health of the internet, but, mostly, for our democracy. Voters are entitled to whatever opinions they like, but these opinions should be based on facts, not hoaxes. http://twitter.com/... Oliver Willis / @owillis : It's weird how an article about older people being misinformed online is pegged to an event with older black people and almost all the people pictured are black when were not the majority of this problem in America http://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ... Anil Dash / @anildash : Given the impacts, we should be at least as concerned in monitoring screen time for the elderly as we are for kids. And probably checking media literacy at least at the same frequency as retesting driving skills. http://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ... Ben Smith / @buzzfeedben : From @CraigSilverman, a core, untold story of the Internet: How confused and disoriented older people play a central part in distributing misinformation http://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ...