“No. Social media is very much led by opinions versus facts. I think everyone should cross-check things that they see or hear. One person can say something, and it’s almost like a big game of Chinese whispers. So, by the time it gets to you, it is a completely different thing that was actually very wrong. So, I would say, like anything that is seen, it should always be fact-checked before being taken as fact. Although there are some people who do rely on social media as their only form of news, I think it leads to opinions on things, because fundamentally, it’s still just another person’s opinion that you’ll see in real time.”
“Absolutely not. Because, number one, all of the social media providers are no longer fact-checking what is out there. That’s number one. Number two, people use social media to spread false information, and there’s no verification unless you know the source. Young people are too trusting of social media, and with AI, you can make anything you want to make. I can put your face on a naked body, and then your reputation is ruined—terrible. And for people in this country, it’s money over character, baby. And as a senior, I am training up my children and grandchildren to understand the good, the bad, and the ugly of all social media and media.”
“As a sole source, no—but probably as a starting point. I mean, the beauty with sites like Instagram and TikTok is you can get your news straight from people on the sites. I’m saying I use Ground News personally, so I kind of pay for the source. But what it does is it tells you which sides are reporting on what topic—whether it’s the liberal side, the conservative side, or if it’s just right in the middle. But I would never use TikTok or Instagram as my sole source without confirming it.”
“No. I like to be able to validate my sources, and sources are unreliable on social media.”
“No, primarily because there is just so much misinformation out there, and a lot of people just say what they want to say. There is no fact-checking or anything. They will hear something and then immediately spread that news, like, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t believe this,’ without even knowing if it was true or not. They don’t even know who said it originally, because they just heard it—so you really can’t depend on news from social media.”
“No. I am more of an old-school person. I watch the news on TV—I don’t even have my phone with me right now. I’ve been doing it the old-fashioned way since I was 5 years old, and I am 58 now. I have always watched the news, so the 5:30 news is a big thing to me to get my news.”
