You may be considering severing ties from your phone, social media, online networking channels, and chat groups. You may want to block the relative who repeatedly sends you video shorts camouflaged as fact-checked news. 

You are, indeed, overstimulated in a multi-layered media environment, said Arthur Soto-Vásquez, an assistant professor at the Hank Greenspun School of Journalism and Media Studies.

He noted how individuals share and consume news has drastically changed from previous decades, when watching the evening broadcast was considered appointment television. 

Today, many people get their information from content creators. They reshare news originally reported by a mainstream media outlets over social platforms such as Reddit, TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram, Soto-Vásquez said. 

But as the content creators share opinions along with the facts, individuals may never see the original reporting. This can lead to misinformation, confusion, and the ability for politicians to oversaturate the platforms with a barrage of new information at a rapid pace. 

Soto-Vásquez — whose research areas include ethnic and equity studies, the relationship between media, politics, health, consumer culture, and the Latinx culture — was recently a speaker for the We Need to Talk discussion series about the intersection of immigration policies, social media, and news literacy. 

Here Soto-Vásquez offers ideas about how to empower yourself to withstand the rapid influx of information and put knowledge into action.  

Be discerning in the news outlets and social media accounts you follow.

“The landscape has dramatically changed since the pre-Internet era. And the big, big difference is there's just so many more options for things to watch and see and and consume right online,” said Soto-Vásquez. “There is the phenomenon of what scholars call ‘filter bubbles’ or ‘echo chambers.’ The platforms will try to give you content that it thinks you want to see because if they make their money off of your attention, eyeballs and delivering who you are to advertisers.”

Know the difference between consumption and action.

“We end up confusing political action for consumption of information. There's more to political action than just reading and knowing what's going on, because we can't think of ourselves in terms of political agents as just consumers of information. That's a very limiting way of thinking about yourself politically,” Soto-Vásquez said. 

Instead, focus on tangible steps toward progress. 

“You can organize neighbors, organize a workplace. You can have discussions with people. You can do all these other things that are not just knowing and posting about stuff online,” he said. 

Soto-Vásquez said to be aware of political tactics such as “flooding the zone,” where the intent is to overwhelm the public with information.

“You'll hear people say things like ‘There's just too much going on. It's too overwhelming,” Soto-Vasquez said. “It takes people one direction, and then it takes people another direction, and then it's hard to focus on any one thing. So you're kind of keeping people uneven.”

Brush up on rhetorical devices of persuasion. 

One way individuals can combat misinformation is to seek out the originally reported information and read the whole story or watch the entire video for details, Soto-Vásquez  said. 

To become media literate, individuals can understand the emotional appeals used to capture an audience or sway opinion. Fallacies like “ad hominem,” and “Motte and Bailey,” are used to critique an individual rather than the argument.

“Generally the research has shown that making a fact checking comment after something is posted doesn't work. It usually backfires. Platforms are generally not interested in policing the stuff too much unless it really violates the terms of service. So really, the only thing that has been shown to be effective is kind of like what's called pre-bunking.”

Organizations can get ahead of misinformation going viral by anticipating the claims and by promoting facts as the campaigns roll out, he said.

Schedule time to log off. 

“You have to find ways to not be online all the time, reconnect with nature with other people, and be more involved in the community,” Soto-Vásquez said. “It can be as simple as putting the phone away at every dinner. Go meet people from all different types of backgrounds, and get to know them because they're real people — with all the complicated feelings and emotions and perspectives they have.”