I have two additional theories for why the boomers are more prone to spreading fake news.
Maturity
Every person, demographic adopting a new media has to go through the whole maturity cycle anew. We've all been there. (For me it was CompuServe, BIX, FidoNet.) We've always had trolls, memes, jokes etc. So netiquette and its predecessors emerge. It takes a while for the novelty to wear off, cooler heads to prevail.
Entertainment Becomes Reality
Boomers are bored. One article I read quoted a few boomer trolls who regarded fake news as funny, a way to pass the time. No different than the supermarket tabloids.
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Alas.
Like when the AOL noob tsunami flooded the web, obliterating the indigenous culture, there's a huge cohort of boomers adopting Facebook. Fed and supported by boomerbots, of course, they're having an outsized impact.
More sadly, I fear most boomers are no longer teachable, more so as they age. So they're not likely to adapt or develop their own netiquette. I've all but stopped talking politics with my older relatives. Because they have no memory of prior discussions. Just like Groundhog Day.
Lastly, how we talk changes how we think. Propaganda works. This is more than confirmation bias feedback loops (mentioned elsewhere). This is something like brainwashing. My mom's boyfriend got her watching Fox News and cable news. She's transmuted from educated, progressive, liberated powerful woman (earned a masters degree, marched in DC to support abortion rights) to almost complete dittohead. This "captured by a cult" story is sadly common.
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The only remedy I can think of is turn off their TVs, log them off facebook. Keep them distracted with knitting, puppies, and church.
My elders are now basically shut ins. Plugged into the TV. They'll happily watch happy shows, like Antique Roadshow, nature shows, cooking.
But when the nontoxic programming ends, they go back to the default channels of Fox News, CNN, and manufactured outrage.
I tried to figure out how to reprogram their TVs, cable boxes to exclude the toxic stuff.
But what's needed is an eldercare streaming TV apps. Like parental controls, but for our parents instead of our kids.
I find conspiracy theories to be almost like some sort of sci-fi / fantasy lore.
I love watching stuff like Ancient Aliens, I know it is complete nonsense but it is fun laughing at all the begging the question they do.
My other half believes in some super natural stuff such as horoscopes etc and she gets a bit annoyed at me and my brother taking the mickey out of it but that is about as far as the "harm" goes with most of this stuff.
Trying to stop people believing in crazy things just isn't possible and actively trying to suppress it online will just make it worse.
As someone who enjoys coast to coast AM, I get the entertainment value; but there is real danger and harm in a lot of it. Just look at the harm Alex "turn the frogs gay" Jones has caused, specifically to the parents of Sandy Hook victims.
Although you are right in that actively suppressing it can make it worse, since that very easily can be spun into "I'm right, the globalists are out to get me and are censoring me because I'm speaking the truth". Perhaps the best thing to do is laugh it down, but after 2016 somehow it's all gotten less funny.
Because some publications has deemed the likes Nigel Farage to be a "fascist". So saying that Alex Jones is worse than anyone else is crazy. Just watch CNN and their conspiracy theories about Trump, they do the same but they are never mentioned because they are deemed to be "on the right side" whatever that is.
I have two additional theories for why the boomers are more prone to spreading fake news.
Maturity
Every person, demographic adopting a new media has to go through the whole maturity cycle anew. We've all been there. (For me it was CompuServe, BIX, FidoNet.) We've always had trolls, memes, jokes etc. So netiquette and its predecessors emerge. It takes a while for the novelty to wear off, cooler heads to prevail.
Entertainment Becomes Reality
Boomers are bored. One article I read quoted a few boomer trolls who regarded fake news as funny, a way to pass the time. No different than the supermarket tabloids.
--
Alas.
Like when the AOL noob tsunami flooded the web, obliterating the indigenous culture, there's a huge cohort of boomers adopting Facebook. Fed and supported by boomerbots, of course, they're having an outsized impact.
More sadly, I fear most boomers are no longer teachable, more so as they age. So they're not likely to adapt or develop their own netiquette. I've all but stopped talking politics with my older relatives. Because they have no memory of prior discussions. Just like Groundhog Day.
Lastly, how we talk changes how we think. Propaganda works. This is more than confirmation bias feedback loops (mentioned elsewhere). This is something like brainwashing. My mom's boyfriend got her watching Fox News and cable news. She's transmuted from educated, progressive, liberated powerful woman (earned a masters degree, marched in DC to support abortion rights) to almost complete dittohead. This "captured by a cult" story is sadly common.
--
The only remedy I can think of is turn off their TVs, log them off facebook. Keep them distracted with knitting, puppies, and church.
My elders are now basically shut ins. Plugged into the TV. They'll happily watch happy shows, like Antique Roadshow, nature shows, cooking.
But when the nontoxic programming ends, they go back to the default channels of Fox News, CNN, and manufactured outrage.
I tried to figure out how to reprogram their TVs, cable boxes to exclude the toxic stuff.
But what's needed is an eldercare streaming TV apps. Like parental controls, but for our parents instead of our kids.