Ssst, Don't Tell Anybody! These are 3 Effective Ways to Protect Us from Hoax

The government shut down the messenger of Whatsapp and social media, i.e. Facebook and Instagram on Wednesday, May 22nd, 2019.

I couldn't access all of them. I knew from the twitter's trending topic (it wasn't shut down) that displayed the hashtag #whatsappdown and I assumed that Facebook and Instagram also had the same situation, because all of them are in the same management.

The news on tv confirmed that, too.

What was the meaning of that?

In my opinion, it meant that the government thought that most of the Indonesian people are not wise enough, not smart enough to differentiate between hoax and factual news in the internet.

Irony?

Of course, it is an irony if the government thought like that.

It is the time for us, not to blame the government

We should not blame the government if it blocked Whatsapp, Facebook, and Instagram.

We have to admit that we are too easy to accept the "truth" of the online news, not only from the social media, but also from websites and blogs.

We have to realize our weaknesses and move on, improve our consideration, to be able to differentiate which ones are hoaxes and which ones are facts.

In my opinion, there are three effective ways to protect us from hoax.

1. Select news from some trusted online resources

It is okay to read the news from social media.

It is no problem to know the informations from blogs and websites.

But it will be a big problem if we believe all news without seeing where they come from.

It's better if we select the news from the trusted online resources, such as kompas.com, tirto.id, detik.com, and many others (I don't have any endorsements or affiliations to these three websites ^_^).

Why do I recommend those three online resources above?

Because they have been passing for many years to give reports, credible and actual reports, based on facts, not rumors or hoaxes.

I usually read news from those three online resources, and I never see they report hate speech or hoax.

2. Read only the important articles for us

We have a lot of, a plenty of news every day, but we don't need to read them all.

Why not?

Because not all of them are important for improving our skills, and not all of them have relationship with our dreams.

For example, I have dreams to become an internet marketer and blogger.

In these cases, I spend most of the time to read books and articles about internet marketing and blogging.

How about teaching English?

Of course, I also read about teaching English, because right now, it is my main job, but some day, I want to become a successful internet marketer and blogger.

So, most of my time, I use to read materials about internet marketing, blogging, and teaching English.

I sometimes read articles about politics and other topics, but I don't pay much attention to them.

So, just focus on what we dream of.

Concentrate on what professions we want to be in the future.

3. Day off for the internet, why not?

"The smartphones make the people who are far away become near; and the people who are near become far away - Anon.

Sound familiar to you ^_^?

The smartphone is very useful for everybody who is far away from his/her family. He or she can call his/her family members to treat longing and keep in touch.

It is very useful in this case.

But that's too bad, if we stay together in the same place, same time, but we are too busy with our smartphones. Scrolling social media's timelines or playing game online.

Day off for the internet, for example, on the weekends. The human relationship is more precious than knowing much the informations from the internet or having much money from it, or having fun by playing game online.

At least, one or two days off in a week.

Have the quality time with our family is the most important. Nothing can be compared with that.

Don't do something stupid like doing demonstration, brutally to ask for the justice of Presidential Election Result.

Let the elites do their jobs to solve that.

Rather than doing such demonstration, turn off our gadgets and have a lovely time with families.

Peace, Love, all of them will fill our hearts with joy.

Pay no attention to Hoax

I hope those three ways above can help you to protect yourselves from hoaxes.

Only focus on the informations that can improve our skills. Concentrate on the news that help us to grow higher, especially to enlarge positive mindset about life.

Do not pay any attention to hoax.

If you do, you will be sorry.