The weather that afternoon was very bright. The atmosphere on campus was also quite lively. Some students were seen just walking around outside the campus, some were eating in the campus canteen, some were focused on reading books and writing journals and papers in the library and some were busy joking around on the sports field.
In a small park filled with various flowers and small trees near the Rectorate office, Hanna, Joni, Anna, Lukas and Silva were seen chatting while eating meatballs.
"We have to be careful and wise in reading news on Social Media before sharing the news with others," said Anna, a student majoring in Information and Communication Technology.
"Yes, I totally agree. Technological advances coupled with the presence of AI, people who are not careful and not critical will find it very difficult to distinguish which content or news is real and which content or news is fake," said Lukas.
"The presence of AI, besides providing goodness and convenience, also causes a lot of chaos. Everything always has a positive and negative side," said Hanna
"Let's pay attention. After the many video and photo editing applications, now the truth in an event or incident is increasingly difficult to prove. And many mothers who use social media immediately accept and believe what they see without digesting and considering it and do not use logic in responding to it." Anna spoke up again
"Well, that's what makes me restless. As a result, there is a lot of chaos and worry due to the circulation of fake news in society" Silva also spoke up
"Most victims of fake news or information or what is commonly called a hoax are teenagers and parents who are less critical and less interested in reading" said Lukas with a slightly annoyed tone
"This is not just a myth, but a reality. My own mother experienced it when I was a teenager. And because of this ridiculous experience, I decided to study Science Technology." Joni said with a thin smile
"What's the story, Joni?" asked Lukas
Joni began to tell his story:
It happened a long time ago. I actually like to laugh to myself when I accidentally remember that incident. At that time I was still a teenager, around 15 years old.
At that time, my mother and I were busy scrolling through social media Facebook and Tik Tok on the back porch of the house. At that time, my mother accidentally found news about the rampant kidnapping of small children and teenagers. The information stated that the police had issued a circular and appealed to parents to always look after their children when going to school or when it was getting dark because the kidnappers carried out their actions when children were about to go to school or towards evening by pretending to be school pick-ups.
After reading the information, without confirming its truth, the funny thing is that my mother immediately panicked and felt worried about my safety. Many old mothers who also play social media were also fooled by the news and information about the rampant kidnapping of children.
The funny thing is, almost all the residents in the village fell for the fake news. So almost every night the residents do night watch at the guard post and what's even funnier is that the little children who usually go to school with their friends end up accompanying their mothers to school, aka waiting for their children outside the classroom. Many children who usually study religion at night also stop. The point is that the people of my village are filled with fear of things that have not happened yet.
However, the panic and worry of the residents slowly disappeared, even now at the age of 30 I have not heard news of child abduction, especially when I shared the news with my friend.
My friend whose parents are very skilled in technology and information explained that the news I shared was fake news and not true.
My friend explained that the news I shared was news that contained video clips that were engineered from classic films. The video clips were edited as smoothly as possible using several video and photo editing applications so that they looked like real news scenes.
After hearing and understanding my friend's explanation, my mother's mind began to calm down and her heart felt very relieved, but there was a little shame on my mother's face because she believed the news too easily that caused anxiety and worry. I realized that from anywhere and from anyone, fake news or information can cause unnecessary fear, sadness, and worry.
Since then, I have always been careful and decided to be more critical in responding to information or news from social media and always check the source of the news before sharing it with others.
