Hate to say this, but YES!
As what I have seen on my Facebook news feed, it is unbelievable how people are so gullible and quick to believing what they read online. People no longer verify facts and would quickly jump into believing whatever they read especially if they love and agree with it.
This problem is magnified with how easy it is to create an account in social-medias. People who have no authority and/or credibility to spread news and information are acting like they do, all for the sake of followers, likes and influence which is very unlike before wherein the only source of information for people are credible ones like books, newspapers and television.
Also due to how easy it is to create a website now and since it pays really well. A lot of people took this opportunity and have started creating "click bait articles" just to earn some extra money. This I think is why pseudo-knowledge or false news is so rampant on social medias nowadays.
The only solution I think for this would be a law that forbids anyone who is unauthorized or don't have any credibility to disseminate information or a law where it prohibits anyone to spread Fake News. It would also be great if everyone verify first what they read online before sharing it.
Don’t you think that constantly highlighting (bolding out) few important bits contributes to a culture of only skimming and thus possibly even more adoption of barely fact-checked knowledge?
Now that you mention it, Yes I think so too!
Highlighting or emphasizing certain parts do create a culture of only skimming but I somehow think it is much more better than not highlighting or emphasizing your point at all. People now are usually in a hurry to read and will only skim a long article and/or mostly focus on the images being presented. Emphasizing your points makes the reader easily grasp the whole article.
I do apologize for the many bold parts in my answer in here though. :)
I don’t mind because I’m a reader. Yes, I *do* skim, and especially for subtitles, but I’m a fast [skim] reader and thus often find other words than those you highlighted.
Yet, if you look for example at the Daily Mail, they have an actual TL;DR: section above each article. Interestingly enough, it’s a news property which isn't know for having a highly intellectual audience.
Perfect example, picked from their actual front page: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6161741/Feds-probe-suspicious-money-transfers-Trump-Tower-meeting.html
Remember though that highlighting targets eyeballs and can thus be a mechanic to bias.
>highlighting targets eyeballs and can thus be a mechanic to bias
Can't agree more and is actually a common media tactic nowadays :)
Nice book excerpt in the Guardian today.