Fact vs. Fiction: Why It’s Important to Know the Difference

By Avni Mishra

Information is available to us anywhere and everywhere, whether we consent to it or not. The reels you get on your feed trying to explain the new tariff being passed, or the TikTok your friend sends you about a conspiracy theory—it’s all news. When we are viewing short-form content, we tend not to think about it too much, but that's where the problem lies. With more information, there is more scope for misinformation and lies. Combined with AI, there are endless possibilities to create fake content. While there may not be a way to stop the production of misinformation, there is a way to avoid being subject to it. 

We can start this by relying on trusted media sources for our information rather than social media. Sure, social media has true news, but it’s tedious to corroborate every video you come across. It is certainly more convenient to get information while scrolling, so an easy solution to that is following a trusted news network on their social media. Platforms like ABC News and CNN post news videos, making it easy to find accurate information. 

While this may seem like an unnecessary step, media literacy has important effects on our lives. As an educated member of society, you gain to opportunity to engage politically. Having accurate knowledge allows you to form your own opinions and advocate for your needs. On the contrary, one who does now have an informed outlook on current events may not know what to advocate for at all. 

Media literacy is a protector of democracy. When citizens make decisions based on misinformation—be it about healthcare, climate policy, or elections—the ramifications can affect entire communities. Learning to evaluate sources, question biases, and identify misinformation is just as much about awareness as it is about civic responsibility. In a digital world where anyone can go viral, it is up to us to help make sure the truth can go viral too.

Media literacy is not just a skill; it’s a mindset. It is about consuming everything with a sense of curiosity and skepticism; asking: Who made this? Why did they make this? What evidence backs this claim? It does not mean that we cannot trust anything we see; it means to pause before we believe the claim to be true. In a landscape where many types of content are intentionally designed to provoke emotion, media literacy is a useful grounding.