Month: March 2024

Abstract

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic was characterized by an abundance of information, some of it reliable and some of it misinformation. Evidence-based data on the impact of misinformation on attitudes and behaviours remains limited. Studies indicate that older adults are more likely to embrace and disseminate misinformation than other population groups, making them vulnerable to misinformation. The purpose of this article is to explore the effects of misinformation and information overload on older adults, and to present the management strategies put in place to deal with such effects, in the context of COVID-19.

Methods

A qualitative exploratory approach was adopted to conduct this research. A total of 36 semi-structured interviews were conducted with older adults living in Quebec, Canada. The interviews were fully transcribed and subjected to a thematic content analysis.

Results

Participants said they could easily spot misinformation online. Despite this, misinformation and its treatment by the media could generate fear, stress and anxiety. Moreover, the polarization induced by misinformation resulted in tensions and even friendship breakdowns. Participants also denounced the information overload produced largely by the media. To this end, the participants set up information routines targeting the sources of information and the times at which they consulted the information.

Conclusions

This article questions the concept of vulnerability to misinformation by highlighting older adults’ agency in managing misinformation and information overload. Furthermore, this study invites us to rethink communication strategies by distinguishing between information overload and misinformation.

Abstract

It is often claimed that social media accelerate political extremism by employing personalization algorithms that filter users into groups with homogenous beliefs. While an intuitive position, recent research has shown that social media users exhibit self-filtering tendencies. In this paper, I apply Hannah Arendt’s theory of political judgment to hypothesize a cause for self-filtering on social media. According to Arendt, a crucial step in political judgment is the imagination of a general standpoint of distinct yet equal perspectives, against which individuals compare their own judgments in order to test their defensibility. I argue that social media inhibit this step by gamifying the pursuit of social status, which encourages users to consider the perspectives of others not for the sake of a general standpoint but for the sake of improving their social status, resulting in self-filtering. Consequently, ameliorating political extremism on social media requires not just reforming the algorithms that deliver content to users, but the interfaces on which users present their social identities.

Abstract

Growing concern surrounds the impact of social media platforms on public discourse^1–4 and their influence on social dynamics^5–9, especially in the context of toxicity^10–12. Here, to better understand these phenomena, we use a comparative approach to isolate human behavioural patterns across multiple social media platforms. In particular, we analyse conversations in different online communities, focusing on identifying consistent patterns of toxic content. Drawing from an extensive dataset that spans eight platforms over 34 years—from Usenet to contemporary social media—our findings show consistent conversation patterns and user behaviour, irrespective of the platform, topic or time. Notably, although long conversations consistently exhibit higher toxicity, toxic language does not invariably discourage people from participating in a conversation, and toxicity does not necessarily escalate as discussions evolve. Our analysis suggests that debates and contrasting sentiments among users significantly contribute to more intense and hostile discussions. Moreover, the persistence of these patterns across three decades, despite changes in platforms and societal norms, underscores the pivotal role of human behaviour in shaping online discourse.

Abstract

Background

Colleges and universities face an increased risk of public health emergencies. Among them, medical colleges and universities deserve more attention as they serve as the play a fundamental role in providing public health emergency services and in cultivating medical professionals. Effectively managing infectious disease prevention and control, as well as responding to public health emergencies in medical colleges and universities, is of great importance for enhancing the capacity of social emergency governance and improving the completeness of the public health system. This study aims to understand the management of public health emergencies in medical colleges in a city in southwest China, explore the factors associated with medical college students’ evaluations, and provide recommendations for emergency management mechanisms in colleges and universities.

Methods

In total, 781 medical college students were selected through stratified random sampling and surveyed using a questionnaire. The main factors affecting students’ evaluation of emergency management were analyzed using multiple linear regression and structural equation modeling.

Results

The overall emergency management situation in medical colleges was relatively complete, with satisfactory results. Medical college students’ satisfaction with the timeliness of prevention measures was the highest, while the publicity and education were the lowest. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that grades, emergency education, -simulation training, -information reporting, and dynamic adjustment measures were associated with the evaluation of emergency management by medical students.

Conclusions

Although the evaluation of emergency management in medical colleges was generally positive, certain limitations still existed. To improve the development of the public health system, colleges and universities should constantly reform and innovate emergency management mechanisms according to the important links in the prevention and control processes.

Abstract

The article proposes that the goal of education should be to promote democracy in education, which can be achieved through a viscous curriculum based on narrative learning to enhance communication and inclusivity. The discussion considers different teaching and learning paradigms, including instruction, learning, and communication, to explore the conceptual relationship between curriculum, teaching, and learning. The viscosity of the curriculum ensures resistance to fluidity while allowing for some movement, also considering the dialogical relationship between its critical internal elements — knowledge, pedagogy, and assessment. It is not a prescriptive or liquid framework, but a collaborative and cooperative construction that emphasises the paradigm of communication (Trindade & Cosme, 2010) and the narrative learning approach (Goodson, 2013). These elements enable contextual adaptation and resistance to support a more democratic education. To design a curriculum that goes beyond a prescription, it is essential to recognize that learning involves cultural heritage, guided by school curricula, which must be shared, used, and recreated. Schools and educators must focus on knowledge acquisition and knowledge sharing as part of the common heritage of humanity, which is, therefore, based on the collective creation of new knowledge and new worlds (UNESCO, 2021). Such knowledge is communicated through the affirmation of the personal and social worlds of students. The challenge is to rethink the social mission of the school by collectively committing to culturally significant and humanly empowering learning. This can lead to the co-creation of a more just, humanitarian, and democratic society, especially in times of great uncertainty intensified by war.