8 Reasons We Need to Stop
Sharing Articles on Facebook
without Reading them First
By Kel Fabie

In an age where Facebook is free but reading the links they point us to costs money, the saying “there is no knowledge that is not power” becomes very apparent.

We get that we love sharing “information,” or informing people of our stand on certain issues when the issue crops up. Unfortunately, a lot of people end up with egg on their face when they try sharing an article that seems to agree with their stance until you click on it and bother reading. Here are 8 very good reasons why we need to stop doing that.

8. We are falling prey to confirmation bias

When we share an article and express our outrage without reading what it’s about, we are going with our gut feel and ignoring the facts presented in the story.

Case In Point: Not everyone is a fan of PNoy’s, yet it’s astounding that people think he’s enriching himself when he approves a law to increase the salaries of government officials, all the way to the president. Not only does this ignore that he has only less than four months to enjoy this salary in theory, he is legally barred from availing of this increase (Please actually click the blue text!): the President we elect this coming May is the person who will actually benefit from this.

Please tell us this screencap is unnecessary.

If anything, Jejomar Binay should be thanking PNoy for this gesture.

7. We tend to ignore when the news was reported.

The news cycle is a lot faster than we give it credit for, and sometimes, the news we share might already be old hat, or worse, already debunked. This is especially obvious with holiday declarations, since certain special occasions don’t become holidays every year. It would be a huge disservice to spread to everyone that so and so date is a holiday when that was last year’s article, and the government ruled differently this year. February 25 is usually the date this happens to a lot, because EDSA does that to us.

Case In Point: When Christopher Lee passed in June last year it was sad, although at 93 years of age, not exactly tragic. Unfortuantely, people relived the sorrow when the news resurfaced, all because another wizard recently passed away, himself.

6. We tend to ignore who wrote the news.

We quote all sorts of sources as if they’re all of the same level of legitimacy. They are not.

Case In Point: Are we really supposed to take the word of a website called “Boodlefight.net” over the frigging Inquirer?

5. Clickbaity titles (that you don’t click on) tend to have disappointing accompanying text.

More often than not, if the title opens with a quote, it is either out of context or worse, never actually said, which renders sharing the article moot, if the quote was your sole reason for sharing in the first place.

Case In Point: Duterte never said what he is quoted as saying in the title. Also, you’re reading an article that defends the president and Duterte in the same breath. That hopefully tells you this isn’t a particularly partisan attempt to build any candidate up.

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