There was a time when people were careful when writing something to post online. With time, unfortunately the tons of information we read are, most of the time, a bunch of lies. Yes, that’s right, lies.
People usually lie to cover up something and save their own butts or gain something from it. Since online there’s not much own-butt-saving going on, a lot of the people who post information on the Internet lie to gain something. Whether it’s money, clients, traffic or fame, the truth is that people lie.
The first time I came across a bunch of gibberish posted online was when I stumbled upon some web pages that offered some very valuable information: how to get rich by doing nothing. Or, how to make $10,000 a month by working one hour a day. Or, my favorite, how to earn a lot of money while you sleep. My first question that popped in my mind was “why the heck would you tell EVERYONE how to make a lot of money, when you can be on a yacht right now, and keep it to yourself?”
I was pretty lucky to have seen those pages when I did, if I were a desperate or a silly girl, I might have fell for it. As so many people do!
The second type of misleading information I come across everyday is when my honey reads the newspapers. In my opinion, there are no more real journalists these days or, those who really earn they paycheck are very few. Do you know how a lot of the online newspapers gather their information? They either copy it from another newspaper OR they translate it and they usually do it wrong.
A lot of journalists look for the latest breaking news and translate it or rewrite it for their online newspaper. Well, since I know 3 languages, I’m able to read the newspapers in their original language too. I know that a lot of the translated information is not accurate, not to mention how some people are willing to write anything just to gain traffic so they invent their own stuff.
People read that! They read it and they believe it and that’s not good. News has to be real, not distorted. Worst of all, children can use a computer too and kids usually believe what they read or hear.
Last, but not least, my favorite type of lies: “studies show”.
How many times have you read that “studies show that [something, something], buy our products now!” or similar phrases? I bump into them daily and it’s starting to get on my nerves.
Studies show… nothing.
A lot of people use this phrase to make the information believable, but it’s not always the case.
What studies show this? How did they prove it? How do I know that the information won’t actually harm my health?
Unless the author demonstrates that “studies really show”, think a bit before taking the information into consideration.
Can you think of any other examples where the information provided online is not true?
