Navigating devices in the political season

Let me start by saying my kids don’t hear much about politics in my home. Though I have strong opinions, I recognize that politics has become tribalism, and I have more important goals than indoctrinating anyone, including my children, into a tribe.

Instead, my personal and professional life has been about critical evaluation of facts, careful consideration of opposing values (which may have nothing to do with facts), and developing an ability to talk, not tell, despite differences.

So because we don't talk much about the current state of politics in our home, I was surprised when my daughter asked me some questions about some ads she had seen while looking up crafts on Youtube. 

"Did you know that someone named X is running against someone named Y?" she asked, out of nowhere.

"Yes, why do you ask?" I responded.

"Who will you vote for?" she wondered.

I paused, curious about the conversation and more so about where she had seen these political ads.  "Well, who do you think I should vote for?"

Without hesitation, she answered, "X." 

"Why?" Knowing the candidate's platform and experience, I was surprised she had no hesitation.

"Well, I haven't heard a good thing about Y?" 

"You haven't?  What have you heard that's bad?"

"That our family won’t be safe if he is elected."

In that one sentence, I knew that I had so much to teach her.  She needed to know about geo-fencing.  She needed to learn how to read propaganda.  She needed to understand that there are always multiple views.  She needed to know that her family's safety is not really in jeopardy.  These are all issues of digital and media literacy, and I devote my career to working on how we teach children to navigate our world.  In the five minutes I had before bedtime, I could only begin a conversation that captures learning that adults today need just as badly as children.  So I started with an easy entry point.

"So have you seen an ad for Y?  Or only ads for X?"

She hadn't seen an ad for Y, which is why she hadn't heard anything good about the person.  We talked about how it's possible for marketing (and politicians) to purchase ad space through "geo-fencing," and it is likely that candidate X had done that, targeting our geographic area.  Because she hadn't seen an ad for candidate Y, it's likely that the campaign hadn't targeted our area.

The result was that she only saw one side, and unfortunately, the message that she saw was intended to make her afraid.  Though I didn't give her the name for this technique of persuasion (appeal to emotion), I did assure her that we can always research those kinds of things ourselves.  We don't need to rely on advertisements to give us the facts - because they probably won't.

My daughter was using a device that does not have any social media on it and has the limited search history of an 11 year old who watches Youtube videos of crafting and Dude Perfect.  This is why I think that the candidate she viewed used geo-fencing.  But I also know that the things that we search, the things that we like, the sites we visit, and basically everything we do online helps advertisers put us in a box.  Facebook and Google show us more of what their algorithms think we want to see.  They keep us in a filter bubble.  And then confirmation bias encourages us to find "facts" in support of our opinions that form based on the limited view in our bubble.  Or perhaps we too easily believe untruths because it suits our perspective. 

Geo-fencing

Filter bubble

Confirmation bias

Propaganda

Evaluating multiple points of view

All of these lessons to teach in a single moment of parenting.  I'm glad my daughter asked the question.  I wonder how many children (and adults) are learning to read their devices with attention to these things.