For Kolkata’s senior citizens, a board is set and the class is ready. People over 60 turn students at the class of a young teacher. At Snehodiya, a living facility for senior citizens, they get rigorous training for two hours on how to curb fake news: which messages to forward to others and which not to spread. What to do when someone sends a video? How to verify if a photo shared by friends is real or fake? The class stresses on critical thinking as a measure to curb the fake news menace in the age of the “infodemic”. According to a report, India emerged as the biggest source of Covid-19-related misinformation during the pandemic. Various measures are being taken globally to fight this menace. The report also suggests that senior citizens form the bulk of those who tend to spread misinformation. Since they are new to social media, they tend to forward or share messages without realising the consequences.
This training was hosted by Snehodiya and conducted by Factshala, a media literacy program which trains people in understanding and verifying fake news. Joydeep Dasgupta, the fact-check trainer, told News18,
“Factshala stresses mainly on critical thinking. We don’t always need tools, just common sense can help us understand whether a piece of information is fake or real. Through this program, we are reaching out to everyone, from farmers to women’s self help groups and other communities. The training for senior citizens is significant because they are more vulnerable to misinformation. They fall victim to it and also carry it forward.”
Newtown administrative authorities are very happy with this initiative. HIDCO Chairman Debasish Sen told News18, “Senior citizens are spending most of the time in their homes; they have limited outdoor ability because of Covid-19. Since they are more confined to their homes, it is necessary that during the time they spend on their mobile phones and on social media, they should be aware of what they are forwarding. Lot of times, it has been seen that they have been cheated in economic terms. So this training will be helpful to them.”
After a detailed training session, the senior citizens seemed to be happy too. Tuli Rekha Das said, “I am afraid of social media, so I wanted to learn the do’s and don’ts. Now I know what to do and what not to do. I have learnt a lot and will now use this carefully.”
Another senior citizen, Swapan Chakroborty, an engineer said, “I was not aware of so many loopholes. This training will help me to properly use WhatsApp and Facebook.”
Read all the Latest Buzz News and Breaking News here
Comments
0 comment