ᴏɴʟɪɴᴇ ᴘᴏᴘᴜʟᴀʀɪᴛʏ ᴀs ᴀ ᴍᴇᴀsᴜʀᴇ ᴏғ ɪɴᴛᴇʟʟᴇᴄᴛᴜᴀʟ ᴄᴀᴘᴀᴄɪᴛʏ.
During COVID-19, there was term that gained prominence, despite it's unusual structure. A term called info-demic, it definitely sounds like a fusion of two unrelated term. Before coronavirus, most people never truly understand how dangerous misinformation could be, it used to be a joke with minimum effect. But when it is mixed with fear and people consume it out of desperation, it becomes the sole engine that drives people towards their destruction.
A lot of people died as a result of consuming false information presented by people who they look up to as influencers. The moment this was discovered, researchers gave it a name, info-demic. A kind of virus that is spread through misinformation, presented in a manner that makes it feel like it is true.
I'm very careful of the kind of information I consume online, especially if it has to do with health related matters. In this era of digitalism, anyone with enough data, access to internet and quality gadgets can start giving health tips online. Though platforms have become more sensitive towards such content but we still have people who have gained prominence enough to be considered as professionals.
Here is the irony, does that mean anyone who shares health related advise is a professional, even if such a person is an influencer? definitely not. In this era, you can study economics and start behaving like a surgeon online. That is the level of decay we now tolerate in our society for the sake of content creation. With all kinds of AI tools, creating content that contains informative ideas about anything has become a lot easier, all I have to do is ask AI. With tools like this, I can become anything I want online.
All I have to to do is let AI create the information I need to disseminate and post them on a regular basis consistently for people to see. With AI, any influencer could create a video giving health tips, law guidance e.t.c People who come across such content might not know where the information comes from, they will think the content originate from the owner of the account professional experience. Which is clearly not true. In this era, it has become more difficult to distinguish between AI content and original content.
To show how advanced our world has become and how these tools can be used to deceive people. I'm not saying there are not professional out there, giving sound professional counsel but it is hard to know the professionals because, they are very few compared to the ones spreading AI generated advice.
For every information I come across online, regarding anything, the first thing that comes to my mind is to verify the content. It doesn't really matter if the person is a professional or an influencer, I will still do my own research. Which is what I will advise anyone to do, don't just consume everything you see online, try to do your own research.
This write-up was inspired by weekly featured content titled Influencers and professionals in hive learners community.
Cover Image - generated using chatgpt
