The following is a guest contribution and reflects the author’s views alone. For information on how to submit a piece to the Opinion section, click here.
“Seek the truth by asking your own questions and coming to your own conclusions.”
Under the gothic arches of the University Chapel in his 2011 Baccalaureate speech, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg defined a struggle that has plagued our generation: the exponential rise of online disinformation, which has consistently challenged democracies and hindered public discourse.
From Facebook allowing 650,000 incendiary posts prior to the Jan. 6, 2021 riots to Instagram recommending anti-vaccination and antisemitic content during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, social media platforms have failed to safeguard their 5.17 billion users worldwide from misinformation and disinformation. This recently culminated in Meta announcing the end of its fact-checking program.
Against this backdrop, Princeton must do what these companies have not, promoting resilience against disinformation by integrating media literacy training into the existing first-year writing seminar.
Princetonians are not inherently media-illiterate. The University’s general education requirements engage students in a variety of subjects, while each major‘s curriculum cultivates in-depth topic knowledge and critical thinking. Nevertheless, in an era where disinformation has become prolific, having the necessary skills to detect it is increasingly important.
Contrary to popular opinion, younger, more tech-savvy generations struggle to identify online disinformation. In a study conducted by the University of Cambridge, only 11 percent of 18–29 year-olds very successfully identified inaccurate headlines. This compares with 36 percent of those aged 65 and older, who also earned underperforming scores less often.
Media literacy training should begin in the first year, when students are learning the fundamentals of academic communication. Currently, we are rigorously taught the criteria of persuasive writing. The writing seminar is split into four components, which aim to “hone critical curiosity” and “cultivate writerly habits.” Now, the University must encourage a more thorough evaluation of sources in the real-world context.
In a reimagined writing and comprehension seminar, students would first gain insight into how disinformation is disseminated through social media and academia. Once foundational knowledge has been established, the course should then investigate examples of disinformation that are relevant to the seminar’s subject focus.
Scrutinizing the origin of sources, more specifically those on social media, will improve all students’ active learning in the classroom and passive learning when scrolling on X or Instagram. While at least one study has found cursory media training ineffective, integrating media literacy into the semester-long intensive writing seminar will enable more effective education.
This new curriculum should also emphasize the growing role of artificial intelligence, which is revolutionizing the way that disinformation is created. Although Michael Bloomberg’s Baccalaureate speech is documented in the Princeton archives, it could easily be deepfaked and manipulated to promote an alternate narrative. Indeed, deepfake imagery and voice impersonation scams targeting public figures were recorded in 38 countries between July 2023 and July 2024, with “30 nations holding elections during the dataset timeframe or having elections planned” the following year.
Likewise, staged videos are helping aggravate public distrust. Any Princetonian affected by the Israel-Hamas war, a deeply fraught conflict that has polarized campus, would be outraged by a video alleging that “Hamas had overrun [a hospital in Gaza],” and that a doctor “had to perform surgery on a child without morphine.” There is one simple issue. The video and explosions depicted in it were entirely fabricated.
Using social media responsibly is part of being “in the nation’s service.” Research has shown that targeted media literacy training improves our ability to assess the content’s credibility and, broadly speaking, counter digital influence operations amidst increasing democratic backsliding. Encouraging students to assess the validity of online content will therefore yield long-term benefits on an international scale.
Disinformation is a global epidemic. Whether we like it or not, when we repost unverified content on our Instagram stories, we are exacerbating the problem. Now we must proactively be part of the solution.
Chloe Cresswell is a junior from London majoring in the School of Public and International Affairs. She can be reached by email at cc8553[at]princeton.edu.
Read More
Bezos ’86 silenced his opinion section. We’re committed to protecting ours.
Jerry Zhu and Frances BroganBezos is restricting the “personal liberties” he claims to care about. But we’re dedicated to protecting your personal liberties — to write and read Opinion pieces from a plethora of perspectives, about a variety of topics.
Bezos is restricting the “personal liberties” he claims to care about. But we’re dedicated to protecting your personal liberties — to write and read Opinion pieces from a plethora of perspectives, about a variety of topics.
Books are meant to be read
Ziyi Yan“In order to balance heavy academic and extracurricular commitments, students are taught to skim texts and read with the sole purpose of churning out scholarly content in a time-efficient manner. As a result, we lose the ability to be changed by the language and ideas that we encounter.”
“In order to balance heavy academic and extracurricular commitments, students are taught to skim texts and read with the sole purpose of churning out scholarly content in a time-efficient manner. As a result, we lose the ability to be changed by the language and ideas that we encounter.”
The dining hall’s architecture keeps workers out of sight. That’s a problem
Siyeon LeeAmong the many inconveniences imposed by my chronic back pain is the difficulty I have in bending over to thank the dining hall workers who clean the plates I eat from daily. In this piece, I explore how the architectural design of Princeton’s dining halls shapes visibility and invisibility, the ways physical barriers reflect social hierarchies, and why rethinking these spaces matters for fostering a more inclusive campus community.
Among the many inconveniences imposed by my chronic back pain is the difficulty I have in bending over to thank the dining hall workers who clean the plates I eat from daily. In this piece, I explore how the architectural design of Princeton’s dining halls shapes visibility and invisibility, the ways physical barriers reflect social hierarchies, and why rethinking these spaces matters for fostering a more inclusive campus community.
