My current WIP dives much more deeply into all of this. I’m working as fast as I can to get it to you. In the meantime, over the yrs, I’ve created many, many resources to support educators in this work. Some can be found here: www.librarygirl.net/post/everyth...
I hope you find them helpful.

🧵/end

All of that said, I recognize the barriers that make teaching these ideas and in this way very challenging. I get how exhausting & disheartening it all feels right now. AND I know that those benefit from an ignorant, radicalized populace want us to feel that way.

🧵/8

4️⃣ ALL learners need to be taught to regulate their emotional response to online content so that they are in control of their engagement.

And…

5️⃣ As learners get older, they need to be taught the brain chemistry related to this and the role of dopamine in our online lives.

🧵/7

2️⃣ ALL learners need to be taught what social media engagement is (it’s a lot more than double tapping y’all) and that engagement has consequences - for themselves and for others.

3️⃣ ALL learners need to be taught to notice when content sparks big feelings that affect their urge to engage.

🧵/6

So what’s the answer?

The longer I do this, the more I believe a few things:

1️⃣ ALL learners need to be taught that all media/info is created by a human (even AI generated content b/c a human created the AI and a human created the prompt) and humans have goals that often involve our emotions.

🧵/5

Can we still learn something from finding out who is behind the info we consume? Of course. But traditional #infolit strategies that focus on identifying the source and other “clues” (like the presence of clickbait) are useless in today’s dopamine driven information landscape.

🧵/4

All of this is both the result of, and complicated by, the fact that we all get info from revenue biased, social media platforms that exploit our emotions in order to monetize our attention, our engagement and, in some cases, our radicalization.

🧵/3

For better or worse, we live in a time when source is polarizing.

If I were to post an article from the NYT, some ppl would automatically trust it b/c of how they feel about the source. Others would dismiss it for the exact same reason. The same for a video from Fox News or The White House.

🧵/2

It was an adventure for me too.

Did you notice anything about the Evidence Locker?

I appreciate this part of the article. "As we continue to face a flood of misleading and polarizing content, creative, psychologically informed techniques like this may help us communicate more effectively and compassionately." That said, @dhudgins.bsky.social and I actually suggested this very...

Nancy Mangum and Theresa Gibson founded Leading EDge Learning to support K-12 educators. With our valued team member, Darren Hudgins, we engage in projects to rethink what educational institutions can do to apply learning science and research-based practices to support and empower all learners.

When I drove from RDU to Boone in early Summer, I saw four of these billboards. Sadly, I chuckled every time, saying the same thing in my head: “I agree.” Why did I chuckle? It's like saying, “Remember to eat because your body needs nourishment.”