This assignment started off by choosing one of three questions, and completing its associated activities. The question I chose was “Should you believe that rumor?”, which included reading 2 articles, a tweet, learning how to use Snopes.com, searching for a non-political rumor I have heard, imagining that a friend or relative has texted me telling me about that rumor, and making a discussion board post where I write an email to this friend or relative telling them what I’ve learned about the rumor on Snopes.com.
The first article was a brief interview of the creator of Snopes, David Mikkelson. He described how he started the site about 20 years prior, and was supposed to revolve around urban legends. However, over time, it became a fact-checking site, debunking rumors. He also explains the process he goes through when it comes to checking each rumor.
The second article also talks about Mikkelson and Snopes. He discusses how the website almost failed and was saved by a GoFundMe campaign, how he met his wife, how once 9/11 happened, internet traffic spiked and everything changed. It also talked about him hiring other employees, divorcing with his wife, and meeting his new wife. It was very informative about David’s life as well as the lifespan of the website.
Below is an example email to my Grandma based on the associated activities that come with the question “Should you believe that rumor?”. It was included in my discussion board post.
Dear Grandma,
You sent me a text telling me a rumor that storing you cell phone in your bra can cause cancer. You heard about this from someone else, and are now insisting that I share it with my sisters, so they will store their phones elsewhere.
However, according to Snopes.com, this rumor is unproven, there is no hard evidence currently available to prove or disprove this notion. While it may be true that it is better safe than sorry, a leading oncologist suggests that it is unlikely that this method phone storage could trigger cancer. She claims that there are thousands of studies on phone safety, yet there is still no link with breast cancer.
A clinical nurse specialist echoes this note, claiming that there is not any available evidence that would say that frequency phone waves can cause cancer. So, while more research can be done on the topic, is it clear that this rumor is certainly unproven up to this point.
I mentioned Snopes.com, so I thought it would be valuable to explain what this website is. According to an article by Michelle Dean, it is a “fact-checking site” that is “trying to swim against the tide of spin, memes, and outright lies in the American public sphere”. It has existed since 1994, and with the incredible growth of the internet, it serves to extinguish unreliable information.
According to an article by Cheryl Eddy, Snopes serves to disprove “all those wild stories in your Facebook feed”. The article explains that people aren’t more gullible than in the past, but that now it is a lot easier to exploit people’s gullibility, so a website like Snopes is so important.
I hope that you understand that the rumor you are talking about has not been proven. I recommend utilizing fact-checking websites such as Snopes.com in the future before sharing rumors. Either way, I know you want to look out for my family and I, so I appreciate the concern.
Your Grandson,
Nicholas
Reflecting on this assignment, as always, I appreciate when the students are granted a choice in what they want to explore. In this circumstance, we were given 3 separate sets of activities to choose from, which was nice. I ended up choosing the question about rumors, since they are so powerful in today’s society. I had also never heard of the Snopes website, so I was interested in seeing what it was all about. Getting a choice always makes me more enthusiastic about completing an assignment!
Additionally, the structure of the discussion board post was very interesting. We had to write it in the form of an email to a friend or relative, which personalized the assignment. It made it feel more realistic, as if I was trying to actually disprove something that someone told me. This different format brought variation, which always makes assignments more exciting.
I also liked that rather than just reading articles about the website, I got to explore the website and look for a rumor of my own. Once again, this gave me more freedom to find things that I was interested in, or that apply to my life more directly. exploring the website made my time working on this more fun and fulfilling. This assignment was set up in a great way, I recommend they keep this assignment for future years!
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