It’s time, somebody’s gotta say something. For obvious reasons, that somebody is me (seeing that I am the owner of this blog).

For starters, it should be known that I love everything about the era we are living in - the age of information technology. Technology has revolutionised our everyday life, and bridged the chasm between communication and distance. What a time to be alive...

Social media is such a huge part of my life (and career, in my previous job). Though, over the years, social media has mutated from an entertainment source / content provider / occasional better-than-soap-opera drama hub to an unrelenting source of annoyance. Yet, I should be the first one to be stoned because in spite of my irritation towards a select group of TMI-ers, I refuse to get off the bandwagon.

Part of the problem lies in the simplicity of the mechanics. It's that easy to share (or overshare). A click of a button, a quick upload and the multitude of articles / pics / videos are flying across your Facebook / Twitter feed. 

The real problem isn't so much that we are a society of culturally-addled oversharers, though it may indeed be true.

Instead, it is this: over time, we have treated every post in each scroll as ‘information’ when the bulk of it is, in reality, utter rubbish masquerading as news, propagated by naysayers. 

Sadly, this 21st century practice mucks the good name of journalism and decimates the work of credible journalists, who toiled day and night to ensure their responsibility as gatekeepers of information is honourably fulfilled.

What’s even more distressing is that somehow, with the ease and availability of information at our fingertips, we have regressed to become a generation of educated fools; who are adept in the latest and shiniest, but are unable to tell the difference between fact and fallacy.

Here are five effortlessly simple ways to distinguish real news from sensationalised hogwash.

It wasn’t so long ago when a colleague came into the office and begin lamenting - at the top of her voice - about the irrational toll prices after the baffling rise in petrol prices the night before.

Of course, in typical girl fashion, shocking gasps and echoes of “What?! Seeeerrriiioousssllyyyy?” resounded.

She then proceeded to read out the hiked rates and for a brief moment, I actually believed her.

A minute (too long) later, I shook out of my stupor and glided my fingers across the keyboard to delve into a few of Malaysia’s major news sites. Nope, no such reports.

A little while on and I realised my assumption was right - she had gotten the ‘information’ through a ‘trusted source’ via WhatsApp, which as we very well know, is a prolific breeding ground for the circulation of false news. 

You might not think it’s a big deal. After all, only, say, 10 people were momentarily duped.

Imagine if this bogus data was broadcasted to ten more, and each of the ten forwarded it to their circle of friends, and they too…. you get the picture. The unnecessary worry, unfounded frustration or unwarranted uproar it could have caused to hundreds, all because of an unsubstantiated rumour.

If I may, a few suggestions on pillars of honest, non-partisan journalism sites are MalaysiaKini, The NY Times, The Guardian, and The Wall Street Journal. 

Incidents like that in #1 could have been easily avoided if we had taken an extra minute to cross reference the circulated ‘information’ with actual facts.

"One thing readers can do is to read what they’re sharing, and after that if you read something and have a strong reaction to it, read more about it," Zimdars* said, "rather than just accept what you originally read as complete information."

*Melissa Zimdars is the assistant professor of communication and media at Merrimack College in Massachusetts.

I hate to break it to you guys, but not everything you read on social media is the truth. Yet, many treat it as though it is the gospel and proceed to form their theology of blame / worry / fear (feel free to substitute with your preferred expression of anxiety) around it.

Just as a person would not knowingly ingest poison, likewise should be applied to our daily information intake.

Learn to carefully sift through what you read. Ask questions. Ponder. Analyse and dissect. Tear it apart with research. Make sure what you choose to take in is backed by tenable research. 

Measure once, twice or ten times if you need to. Do a little research, it's really not that difficult, I promise. And for the record, Wikipedia is not a credible news source.

Be sure that you're not playing the devil's advocate by broadcasting puff pieces - which convincing as they can be - are still, baseless and often, satirical.

Let me show you one of the most recent politically biased fake news, which has been shared relentlessly across all social media platforms.

Most of you would have seen this quote, attributed to a 1998 interview with Donald Trump in People magazine. What you're unaware of is while the brazen President-elect has said a slew of misogynistic, xenophobe comments, he never said the above. Read more about it *here*.

Don't have a hand in adding to the worry or fear of an already high-strung and on-edge nation.

News and opinion (editorial) pieces are vastly different.

Opinion pieces are arbitrary. News, on the other hand, is absolute. Don’t mistake one for the other.

*****

Just so we’re clear, this is an opinion piece. You are most welcome to heed my concerns or disregard it as ramblings of a chatty lass. The choice is yours.