NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF-TV) — Teenagers are awash in conspiracy theories.
That's according to a new report from the non-political and nonprofit News Literacy Project.
It found teens are exposed to multiple conspiracy theories each day through social media and most believe at least one of them.
NewsChannel 5 and our parent company, Scripps, are participating in News Literacy Week.
It's a national effort to help people of all ages identify misinformation and become responsible consumers of news and information.
At John Overton High School in Davidson County, students are learning how to spot conspiracy theories.
Teacher Lacy Galbraith starts each class by telling students to put their phones in their pockets on a side wall.
"Send your last text," Galbraith said to the class as they abandoned their phones.
"Actually, it improves engagement. They are more likely to talk to each other. They are more likely to pay attention," Galbraith said.
Galbraith wants their attention for a lesson on media literacy.
"So what is a conspiracy theory?" Galbraith asked the class.
The goal of this lesson is to help students determine fact from fiction — in a social media world filled with misinformation and bizarre conspiracy theories.
It's easy to find examples that students are exposed to daily.
One video claims the earth is flat, and begins, "What if I told you, we've been lied to our entire lives."
Another video we found highlighted the recent solar eclipse and claimed it marked the beginning of a New World Order.
Tenth grader Caroline Duncan is in the class.
"A lot of people get their news from the internet or from content creators they trust," Duncan said.
She believes teens buy into conspiracy theories for the same reasons adults do.
"I think people want to be part of a community. Inherently, that's like a human thing. People want to be part of a community, so having all these people who are going to gather around you and support you, that's one of the main appeals of conspiracy theories."
Tenth grader Jordan Aigbe is also in the media literacy class and has seen friends get sucked into things that simple fact-checking would prove wrong.
"Sometimes a friend will just come to me and talk about how they went through a rabbit hole on social media, just scrolling and scrolling. And it's like, you are watching people give their opinions," Aigbe said. "It's like, I saw it on TikTok. It has to be true. And it's like, no, that's not true. Why would you say that?"
Peter Adams with the News Literacy Project said bad information can lead to some dark and dangerous places.
"A lot of conspiracy theories have deep roots in extremist ideologies, antisemitic ideologies and they have led to real-world violence," Adams said.
Currently, nine states require some media literacy training in schools. Tennessee is not one of them.
Adams said in the current political climate it is critical that fact checking not be seen as political. Conspiracy theories target liberals and conservatives.
Galbraith wants her students at John Overton High School to learn the basics, like do not randomly share things on social media.
"I want to teach them how to ask questions, how to verify something and how to know something is credible," Galbraith said.
She said that often comes down to waiting a moment before sharing something.
Do not act impulsively.
Misinformation plays on people's emotions including anger and fear.
Take a moment to Google something to see if other news sources are reporting it.
Because at the end of the day — just like at the end of class — students are back on their phones.
They need the skills to navigate what's coming at them.
"I think it's critical to democracy. I think it's critical to people staying healthy and safe," Glabraith said.
Peter Adams with the News Literacy Project said one of the reasons we are now seeing so many conspiracy theories on-line is that people hope to make money off them.
Many creators drum up engagement, get a big following and either sell the accounts or sell ads.
For more information go the News Literacy Project website at https://newslit.org/
