Confronting the Infodemic: A Not So Modest Proposal

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While Climate Change is rightfully considered humanity's greatest current existential threat (If you can briefly close your eyes to our current Covid-19 pandemic), the infodemic threatens much of what humanity holds dear: democracy, education, and even our own health.

For those unacquainted, the infodemic refers to the continuous assault faced by society's information ecosystem. Truth has been pitted against a constant barrage of misinformation, conspiracy theories, and utter lies. So, what can we do about it? Like I tell my students, "Don't stop at the problem. Find a solution."

Something needs to change if we are going to defeat this hydra of misinformation: one conspiracy theory gets debunked five more take its place. Society requires solutions and requires them soon. I believe our students have the capacity to be agents of change. We just need to give them a chance. With that in mind, there,  undoubtedly, exists precedent for teens changing the world. Greta Thunberg anyone?

Greta Thunberg, the teen climate activist extraordinaire, said of the world's current climate predicament, "Our house is on fire." Her provocative words are a call to action, a plea for urgency. I believe the infodemic requires similar urgency. Our information ecosystem is being poisoned beyond repair. It needs an antidote.

We must act. We must act with haste. We must protect our information ecosystem like it's on life support, like it's our own house on fire.

What I'm proposing is a course that every student must take as a grad requirement,  a course aimed at protecting democracy and, by extension, society as we know it. A course dedicated to fighting the infodemic.

This course would be built upon the following essential question: "What can we do, as a society, to alleviate the threat posed by the infodemic?" Each of the course's units would centre on the components that make up the infodemic: conspiratorial thinking, synthetic media, social media, organized misinformation campaigns, anti-scientific sentiment, the post-truth society, etc.

As students develop an increasingly sophisticated understanding of the infodemic, they would simultaneously be tasked with creating solutions. 

At the conclusion of the course, students would first present their answer to that aforementioned essential question and next share their learning with classmates and beyond.

I'm currently in the process of writing a proto-curriculum for this hypothetical course. But as hypothetical as this course may be, the infodemic is very real. And if you don't believe me, just turn on the news for five minutes. 

I welcome collaboration in this endeavor. I'm just one man. Fighting the infodemic will take a motivated group of educators, a group of change makers.

The world could use a little change. That I'm sure. Stay tuned for my proto-course's curriculum: Fighting the Infodemic: An Inquiry on Misinformation and its Consequences. 

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