Christine Frandsen joins Cougar Hall on the Y Health podcast to discuss the importance of Media Literacy when it comes to Public Health.
Christine Frandsen is a current private high school teacher in Provo, Utah. She received her bachelor’s degree in journalism and then received her MPH in public health from BYU.
She recently joined Cougar Hall on the Y Health podcast to look at the rise of misinformation and the importance of strong media literacy.
Frandsen points to how the last few years have seen a rise in misinformation being spread throughout social media at a much quicker rate.
Frandsen emphasizes, when teaching her students about finding strong information, the importance of locating primary sources.
Frandsen said, “Go for the details, go to the primary sources. Really understand and just the boring in-and-out details … because that gives you a better, richer understanding of what you think.”
One of the largest problems with misinformation is the struggle of having only one set of beliefs and opinions to inform your idea on a specific subject.
Frandsen emphasizes the importance of embracing complexity and making sure that you are getting a multitude of opinions to inform your understanding of a topic.
“We’ve talked a lot throughout the year about embracing complexity … Things are complex, they are nuanced, and that at the end of the day, you can still have strong opinions … but it should be with the understanding and the respect for the complexity involved,” Frandsen said.
Some of the main ways we have seen misinformation spread is through the ability of information to travel more rapidly than ever, especially with the rise of social media over the years.
To combat the problem, Frandsen pointed out, “We do tend to recognize danger, and we do tend to try to mitigate it or pull back from it. I hope I see that happening with this, where there are so many more voices saying, ‘We need to have quality reporting. We need to know the facts of what exactly is going on.’”
One of the biggest steps needed to help combat a world of misinformation is to understand that misinformation is created to gain our attention and shape certain beliefs.
True journalism and information come from looking at a variety of sources and finding the truth within the complex center of a topic.
Frandsen said, “I’m gonna consider the sources, and I’m gonna question it. I’m not gonna do what’s convenient.”
Frandsen emphasizes that it’s OK to not know everything. It’s important to be curious and open to learning new information. Because when you allow yourself to think you know everything, you become blind.
“Curiosity is even better than knowing everything,” Frandsen concluded. She notes that social media does have a place, and the wealth of information can be incredible when we explore it.
“If we want to pull out our smartphones and look up something together and discuss it together, talking about the limitations and the implications of the information we’re finding online, then great. It becomes a different thing when we’re doing it together and discussing it.”
To listen to more about the role of media literacy in the digital age, check out Christine Frandsen and Cougar Hall’s discussion on the Y Health podcast here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1861280/episodes/18013090