4000 miles away from home and alone in a foreign country, the only thing that keeps me connected with my family is a smartphone and an expensive pre-paid internet connection. Ironically, it kept me away from them when we were seated together in the same room.
It is easy to lose ourselves in these screens as we scroll and swipe to our hearts’ content, hopping from one app to another before realising that an hour has sailed by. We have accepted this as our new normal because it keeps us informed and connected with the rest of the world, but it also changes how we think, feel and interact. Our smart devices have become a portal that connects us with the rest of the world through the internet.
In times of uncertainty, most of us find solace in seeking accurate information through the internet, but this vulnerable state of mind also exposes us to inaccurate information. As social beings, we try to comprehend a situation by gathering information that is then severely filtered by our cognitive biases and then share it. The severe repercussions of this process resulting in the dissemination of misinformation became more evident when the Covid-19 pandemic inflicted the world with a vicious turmoil and tossed an accelerated pace of digital transformation in the mix.
The conundrum surrounding misinformation in our society engulfed by technology has always been a complicated mess. It is a notorious virus and innocent at the same time because human beings are a pawn to cognitive distress that stimulates individual interpretation and fear, especially during uncertain situations. Everybody has something or someone they fear, and likewise, one lizard is enough to make me run in the opposite direction. Some might suggest this paralyzing sensation that makes me tremble in front of a lizard is disproportionate to any actual threat, but my fear refutes this reality and considers them to be beasts of impending doom. Similarly, individual perception is often fuelled by denial and may perhaps influence people to convey unintentional yet misleading information. Currently, society and technology are evolving in a parallel flow, but the latter has triggered a complex societal behaviour.
Most of us can recognize the different symptoms of coronavirus, but many of us fail to perceive the underlying information overload caused by digital exposure and cognitive distress that subjugates us to misinformation. However, running away from these unyielding impediments is not a solution and as such the onus is on PR and communication professionals. In his opening statement for the ICCO Virtual Summit 2020 in November, Nitin Mantri foreshadowed a rise in misinformation and drew attention to a fundamental responsibility of professional communicators in restoring trust and transparency. A few months later, the 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer declared an epidemic of misinformation, resulting in a global mistrust on news sources. It is trickier to mitigate this virus of misinformation because it transforms and disseminates faster and differently around different issues. However, there has been increasing discussions about misinformation which was also a recurring theme for the PRCA virtual summit 2021. If considering little drops make the mighty ocean, then PRCA’s intend to combat misinformation surrounding climate crisis is furthering the efforts of United Nations’ triage with the vaccine infodemic.
We must lock horns with this frustrating tussle against misinformation by understanding human behaviour to develop digital literacy and tackle the information load that is fuelling our cognitive dissonance. The collapse of historic civilisations is proof enough that human beings are prone to self-destruction and without any serious action, this state of societal and technological flux will eventually collapse under the irreversible damage caused by misinformation.
Comments