It must be true. I read it on social media. 

Every few days, my son would burst into the room where my wife and I were, with the latest salacious or exciting news. 

It could be that a major brand was funding a war. 

It could be that a musician was a sex pest. 

It could be that a footballer had inexplicably missed an open goal and this image was the proof.

But each time, his news was simply unbelievable. 

You see, I was a journalist for 20 years and have since worked in social media for more than a decade, so I naturally question potential news. 

Plus, I also co-founded the Positive Social charity which goes into schools to help students consider how they spend their time on social media. 

We challenge them about their online behaviour and ask if they’re living their best lives or if social media is getting in the way? And we reveal to them how social media networks are designed to feed content to young people so the owners can become richer. 

Everyone on social media has an agenda.

At first, I found my son’s easy acceptance of what he read on social media incredibly frustrating. 

I would argue that his information didn’t make sense, that logically it just couldn’t. But he wasn’t to be convinced. 

“It is true. Just look at this photo,” he’d urge me, getting frustrated that I wouldn’t take his news at face value.

So, I had to come up with a different technique. At first, I would do my own research to debunk his news, but that was time-consuming and I didn’t feel Sam was learning. 

My approach became more question-led than fact-led. 

Conversations went a little like this:

Me: That’s fascinating. Where did you read it?

Sam: Instagram. 

Me: What is the source of the information? How reputable is it? I’d be interested in reading more.

Sam: It’s a true story, Dad. I can’t remember what the source was. I’ll find the post again. 

Me: Let me know when you do. 

Several hours/days later. 

Me: Did you find the source of that story?

Sam: Yes. It wasn’t a true story after all. 

My Sam is a bright boy, so I wasn’t surprised he worked it out if the story was fake (sometimes he even confirmed it was true!), but some children may need help understanding what can and can’t be trusted when it comes to social media.

Adults need to point out that everyone on social media has an agenda – including themselves(!) - so they should consider an author’s motivation for posting particular content. Asking ‘why’ is really important. 

And we need to follow up on our conversations with children so we can be sure they really have made a considered opinion. 

And you may not be surprised to know that Sam very rarely bursts in with unbelievable news anymore.

Mark Saxby is the founder of Positive Social is a UK charity that delivers free classroom-based sessions for Year 7s, and at a low-cost for other year groups. The sessions are designed to help children make better decisions about how, and how often, they use social media.

Contact [email protected] for more details or check out https://positivesocial.org.uk/