Our Future and Media Literacy

In my work as a futurist, everything I read lately seems to suggest a need to become more "media literate". What is media literacy?  ChatGPT describes it as follows, "Media literacy refers to the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media. It involves a set of critical thinking skills that enable individuals to navigate the complex and rapidly evolving media landscape, identify credible sources of information, and make informed decisions about what to consume and how to interpret media messages."

Just this week, media mogul Rupert Murdoch, acknowledged under oath, that his news commentators endorsed many falsehoods knowingly to keep their audiences happy and agitated.  Tens of millions of people were influenced by these false accusations - a siren call for media literacy.  

AI generated version of me

Our future will include tsunamis of falsehoods from not only our own internal sources, but from our enemies'.  All of us are going to be exposed to information purpose-built to make us fight with each other. We will be presented with fake images (see AI generated of me), fake video, fake audio, fake articles, etc., designed to create confusion and agitation. It is critical that we understand how to analyze information and see through these tactics, strategies and attacks.

Organizations have collected over 5,000 pieces of personal and behavioral data on many of us.  This information is now being used to personalize mind attacks on individuals. This information was collected from mobile applications, e-commerce sites, social media and psychographic profiles and other places.  We are now being led on a journey of long-term mind-manipulation, often without us even realizing it.  Read much more on how this is being done on my blog here.

This isn't a secret.  There are no hidden conspiracies here.  It's all very public.  We must be media literate enough to recognize how all sides are engaging in it, so we don't become the victim of it.  

Let's not, however, interpret these influence campaigns as business or politics as usual.  This is not normal.  Artificial intelligence, social networks and massive quantities of personal and behavioral data on each of us means that mind-manipulation campaigns can be personalized for everyone based on our age, backgrounds, ethnicities, incomes, culture, education level, careers, religion, philosophy, lifestyle, etc.  They know us by our social media photos.  They know us by our online activities.  They know us from hundreds of data breaches around the world.

All of this information has been consolidated in the hands of organizations with nefarious intent.  Many sell this collected information to the highest bidder, which can often be nation states that are unfriendly to us.  This purchased information is then used in campaigns to change the way entire nations think and vote - one individual at a time.  

Is it any wonder that our social cohesion is stressed?  Is it any wonder our politics are increasingly divisive?  Do you sometimes wonder why there are so many heated political arguments between family members?  Is it any wonder that race relations seem to be getting worse, not better?  None of this is an accident.  Russia has a long and well documented history of using information operations against their opponents.

It's both the intended and unintended consequences of our fondness for technology, and our human desire for connection, community and love.  Our desires have made us vulnerable. Our desires can easily be exploited by organizations determined to use our vulnerabilities to influence our thinking.  What's different this time is that organizations now have direct access to our brains through our media and social media consumption.

The strength and fortitude of a nation is often measured by its social cohesion - the degree to which they are unified around shared ideals and vision?  It is these very ideals and vision where enemies seek to create disunity.  Here is more from ChatGPT, "Social cohesion and political stability are important factors for any country's security and resilience. Therefore, it is in the interest of any country to address its internal divisions and work towards greater unity, not only to defend against external threats but also to build a more prosperous and harmonious society."  Is your country coming together and becoming a more harmonious society?  If not, why not? 

This week, the New York Times contained an opinion piece that clearly articulated the strategies an opponent would employ to make us weak.  "Over the past two decades, China has built formidable political warfare and cyber warfare capabilities designed to penetrate, manipulate and disrupt the United States and allied governments, media organizations, businesses and civil society. If war were to break out, China can be expected to use this to disrupt communications and spread fake news and other disinformation. The aim would be to foster confusion, division and distrust and hinder decision making." 

 

We must all recognize the world we live in today.  The world's battlegrounds today are just as often in our own minds as on a battlefield.  Our enemies are purposely messing up our logic, thinking and increasingly our holiday dinners.  

All of us should do our part to be attentive, aware and media literate.

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Kevin Benedict

Futurist at TCS

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***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.