It must be true.....

A couple months ago I saw a commercial mocking the internet and how everything "published" on the internet is true. It was funny and I think most people said to themselves, "Ha, this is funny because many things aren't true."

Haven't seen the commerical? Here it is!








Unfortunately, I feel as though many intelligent individuals are falling into the "internet is always true" mentality lately. Mostly because of Facebook. I'm not ragging on Facebook. I'm an avid user and post one too many pictures of my little boy (such a cutie pie - at least I think so - sorry for blowing up your news feed). I do have one pet peeve though: articles that float and are not true. Let's take a couple recent examples...

No Ice For Dogs... 
http://wendtworthcorgis.wordpress.com/2010/07/31/no-ice-water-for-dogs-please-read-asap/

First of all, it was posted in 2010 and someone just decided to start recycling it on Facebook. I had about ten friends who posted it. I got worried, but before posting it I did research... Guess what? It's not true. Not even close.


Have you seen this recently?

So many of us were super excited, yet another let down! No FRIENDS reunion I'm afraid.. Pretty harmless prank, but I was totally bummed when I researched and found out the truth.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/04/23/friends-reunion-not-happening-courteney-cox_n_5196673.html


There are a bunch of other examples out there about HPV vaccine, raising money for people who aren't sick (Facebook isn't matching anything friends), and even Amber Alerts that aren't real (sad - I know).

Why am I posting about this? I'm not at all faulting my Facebook friends for wanting to trust their friends who have posted these things. I get it. You probably assume your friend wouldn't have posted it if it wasn't true and maybe they did their homework. Logical. Again, I GET IT.

 The problem is we are no longer researching things for ourselves. This scares me. Not because I think everyone will stop giving dogs ice cubes (although my dog would be pretty sad), but because it means we aren't teaching our kids to research. If we, you know adults/teachers/parents/etc, aren't doing our homework, then our kids aren't either.

My thoughts aren't just about the posts on Facebook, it is about our culture. Our willingness to believe almost anything, no matter the media outlet. I am worried we are forgetting to think critically and to question things we hear and see. So, all I'm asking is that we at least do a little research before we jump to conclusions and I am not at all faulting any of my friends who posted any of the stories floating lately... just a reminder to check it out first.