Friday Feature: Faking It

Yesterday, I headed back into the classroom, determined to teach not just psychology, but critical thinking skills as well.

And today is Inauguration Day.

The confluence of these two events has me thinking about staying informed in a responsible way.

One day last week, I typed "staying politically aware when the news makes you sick" into my trusty search engine -- the one that is, or is not, depending on who you read -- cracking down on allowing fake news sites to run its ads.

And I ended up reading about how we consume the news -- or boycott it because it's bad for us. How millenials consume news, along with specifics on the ways that many in this generation are more informed than we give them credit for. I read an interview with a fake news creator -- a man who is educated and makes a decent living paying people to make up stories and spread them across social media, then unveil them -- sort of.

Finally, I landed on an article that I printed out to share with my students: one on how to spot fake news. As this industry becomes more lucrative, it's also becoming better at what it does, which is convincing people that fiction and fact are one and the same.

I never did find the answer to my online search. I guess that's one I'll have to work out for myself.

If you've figured it out, please share your strategies in the comments.