• Children in the UK are set to start lessons on how to spot fake news on social media.
• The country’s education secretary says that the national curriculum will be adjusted to make space for these lessons.
• The country has been gripped with riots in the last few weeks blamed on the spreading of misinformation online.

It has long been known that social media has significant negative effects on younger individuals, but now instead of simply removing smartphones and other devices that can lead to social media from children, schools have started preparing their learners to combat the ills of these platforms instead.

Amid extremism-fuelled riots in the UK, children at schools will begin learning how to spot extremist content and misinformation online under changes planned for the country’s school curriculum.

The UK’s education secretary Bridget Phillipson said she was launching a review of the curriculum in primary and high schools to add critical thinking across multiple subjects and prepare children to face and resist conspiracy theories and other pieces of disinformation common on social media.

“That’s why our curriculum review will develop plans to embed critical skills in lessons to arm our children against the disinformation, fake news and putrid conspiracy theories awash on social media. Our renewed curriculum will always put high and rising standards in core subjects – that’s non-negotiable,” explained Phillipson, as per The Guardian.

For example, schools will now also teach how to spot fake news on social media during computer lessons, and math lessons may include how to spot when someone is trying to manipulate you via statistics and graphs.

“It’s more important than ever that we give young people the knowledge and skills to be able to challenge what they see online,” she added.

The UK’s government and officials are blaming the spreading riots that have gripped the country in the last two weeks on misinformation and hateful content “awash on social media.” People who are posting fake news are now being arrested thanks to investigations from specialist officers.

There have been multiple studies linking social media use in children to depression, and governments across the world are cracking down on these companies in effort to protect their children.

In 2022, 14-year-old London teen Molly Russel “died from an act of self-harm while suffering from depression and the negative effects of online content,” according to coroners. Molly was reportedly obsessed with Instagram and Pinterest, consuming hours of harmful content.

With South Africa’s on social platforms just as rife when it comes to extremism, misinformation and other pieces of negative content, perhaps a similar consideration could be adopted here, especially taking into account the growing smartphone penetration among teens and youngsters in SA.

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