Ok, this is not going to be a well formulated question, because the concerns behind it are nebulous in my own head.

Some assumptions I have, that clearly inform the question that follows: I believe commercial, state, and others have sophisticated methods of influencing what I see on social media and thus, in part, what I think. I also believe that someone more willing to believe in the types of conspiratorial beliefs I’ve just expressed are more likely to be manipulated by information they’re exposed to. And, yes, I fully appreciate the irony of those beliefs.

My child is adult enough that belief patterns I encourage are very unlikely to become deep patterns. That is, I’d have to work to indoctinate my son, and he’d actively resist if my indoctrination was outside of societal norms.

He didn’t grow up exposed to the social media I suspect children do now.

How does a parent inoculate a child to the influence of social media without also creating a mindset willing to believe in a nebulous “them” that controls things—a mindset, I believe, that makes a person more likely to be controlled?

  • what_is_a_name@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I really agree with a lot of this. Especially information literacy, using libraries, and simply paying for the better services.

    But also simply said. World is always changing and we do not have well understood, well documented strategies for shaping kids as their information/threat landscape evolves. Especially tue disinformation and other online threats were just not a topic until … 2017 or so. We there is a lot to learn.