Dialogue with Students / Media Literacy FAQ (1)

The "Video for Not Being Swayed by Uncertain Information about COVID-19" teaching material, which I collaborated on with Mitsumura Tosho, has been incorporated into classes at schools across the country since last month. It is quite unusual for a textbook company to urgently distribute teaching materials that apply a unit from a textbook (5th-grade Japanese, "Let's Turn on the Switch of Imagination") to current real-world issues, and thanks to that, it has been welcomed by teachers with high sensitivity.

It has been about 20 years since I started visiting elementary, junior high, high schools, and universities across the country (or, more recently, remotely) to conduct media literacy classes. Among the passionate essays sent to me by children after the sessions, there are some common questions, so I have decided to store them here from time to time, along with my replies.

(This is a jumbled collection in no particular order, ranging from questions that strike at the core to rich digressions, but I hope teachers will find some of these Q&As helpful.)

Why do the right wing and left wing fight so quickly on Twitter?

【Q1】3rd Year Junior High, SK / Recently, what I often see on Twitter is fighting between people who call themselves right-wing and people who call themselves left-wing. I want to know why such people fight so easily. I think it's because of mutual prejudice and differences in opinion, but I think that adults wouldn't fight just because of that.

【A1】That's right, usually adults don't fight that easily, do they? Through accumulating a lot of life experience, they have become able to judge and empathize with various things from the other person's complexion and expressions, consider their own position, and choose their words. However, on the Internet, you don't know the other person's situation, and you yourself might be an anonymous invisible person, so even adults end up fighting quite easily, just like children.

In other words, this has nothing to do with being right-wing or left-wing; it is the danger inherent in the tool called the Internet. From now on, when you interact with others on the Internet, try to write your words while checking, "If the other person were actually in front of me right now, could I say these words directly?".

What if you can't see anything outside the spotlight?

【Q2】3rd Year Junior High, YS / I was scared to learn that I have to change my perspective this much—position, center of gravity, order, angle—to get correct information. Also, if information outside the spotlight is completely hidden, how can I notice its existence?

【A2】There is no need to be scared at all. On the contrary, "If you change your position, angle, etc., your perspective expands this much!"—let's enjoy the excitement.

I said in class, "Don't just look inside the spotlight," but that doesn't mean "see through to the outside." For example, when you first hear a rumor that "Mr. A might become the next manager of the soccer team," what you should do is calmly accept it, thinking, "It's not certain yet that it will be Mr. A," rather than immediately trying to pin down, "Actually, the next manager is Mr. B!" or "It's Mr. C!" If you rush for an answer like that, you'll just be swayed by new rumors again.

All information is a spotlight, but don't obsess over having to pinpoint and notice, "This is what's hidden!" outside of it. What's important is to realize, "there might be something outside the spotlight / what is visible inside the spotlight is not necessarily everything".

The joy of encountering different perspectives

【Q3】3rd Year Junior High, HH / When you were a TBS announcer, Mr. Shimomura, what was the most enjoyable interview you did?

【A3】When I expected, "This event is probably roughly this kind of content," before going to the scene, but then discovered something new when I actually interviewed there. In other words, when my assumptions and preconceptions were broken by the interview, my window widened and I could see a broader landscape—I often felt that kind of "thrill." (If it's an incident, it's not appropriate to express it with the word "enjoyable," though.)

This feeling is the same not only for me as the interviewer but also for the person being interviewed. For example, when we have a very good exchange in an interview, after it's over, they sometimes say happily, "While answering Mr. Shimomura's questions, I made a new discovery myself, thinking, 'Oh, so that's what I was thinking,' and it was fun," or "My head cleared up while I was answering, and my cold even got better!"

Why do TV stations criticize politics?

【Q4】3rd Year Junior High, MM / ① Why is NHK constantly called a "black company" (exploitative), and why can't they improve? ② TV stations only broadcast one side of the opinion. Why do they report in a biased way that criticizes politics?

【A4】① I also had a student I was very fond of in my student days who became an NHK reporter and died of overwork from being made to work too much, and I couldn't help but feel sad. However, recently, with "work-style reform," it seems that NHK and other TV stations have finally become able to take time off. There are still problems there, but I hope that not only NHK but also office workers all over Japan will take that reflection to heart and think about it as their "own issue"...

② Around the time of World War II, the media did not say "that is wrong" regardless of what the government or military decided, and insteadjust kept applauding, which resulted in no one being able to stop the war and many citizens becoming victims. That is why it is very important for the media to maintain a stance of "critically checking" politics, and perhaps that is what looked like "biased criticism" to your eyes.
If you ever truly feel, as you say, that they are "only broadcasting one side's opinion," let's try directly warning that TV station or newspaper by saying, "I don't see the other side's opinion here."

What is true media?

[Q5] 3rd Year Junior High, EI / Will there ever be a time when the media shines a spotlight on both sides of an issue? To you, Mr. Shimomura, what is true media? I think media that properly conveys various opinions is true media.

[A5] That is exactly right. However, there are an enormous number of "positions" in the world, and it is by no means limited to just "both" (i.e., two). Unfortunately, a time when all of them are in the spotlight will likely never come. Because realistically, it is impossible. News is not a final answer, but an eternal interim report.
But perhaps the "true media" is the one that"constantly continues to make an effort to convey viewpoints from as many positions as possible" while trying to get as close as it can to that unreachable goal.

Why does the media spread fake news that will be exposed anyway?

[Q6] 3rd Year Junior High, SS / Why does the media spread fake information even though the lies will be exposed later anyway?

[A6] Professional media usually does not spread fake news on purpose. Because if they did that,they would lose the most important thing, the trust of viewers and readers, and the company would go under. However, it is possible for them to accidentally make mistakes or spread misinformation due to a lack of verification. On very rare occasions, there are unfortunate examples where they spread stories that differ from the facts for reasons like wanting to get attention as a reporter or wanting to support a certain politician. Therefore, you shouldn't swallow everything 100%, but if you decide that "media = liar," that is also going too far.

Fake news is mostly spread by small groups or individuals. Even if the source is small, now, with the power of the internet, it spreads in the blink of an eye. To avoid being swayed by it, let's make sure to master the four checks of《So-U-Ka-Na》 that we introduced in class.

Why am I in this world?

[Q7] 3rd Year Junior High, KW / I don't understand the meaning of being alive. Why am I in this world? What exactly is my existence? My current thought is "let's just move forward and live without thinking about such things," but honestly, I feel conflicted. What do you think, Mr. Shimomura?

[A7] When I was a child, I felt very conflicted about that too. Or rather, I still don't know the answer. So, from a certain point on, I decided, "Since I won't get the right answer even if I think about it, I might as well just decide the reason (purpose) for living myself."

And when I decided on my own purpose in life and thought simply, "I am living to fulfill that," the conflict disappeared once and for all. I don't know if that method will work for you, but why not tryturning on your imagination switch and deciding on a meaning for your life?

What is the most important thing to be careful about when you get your first smartphone?

[Q8] 3rd Year Junior High, MM / I don't have a TV at home, and I don't have my own smartphone. When I get a smartphone in the future, what is the most important thing to be careful about?

[A8] If you get too enthusiastic about your smartphone debut and try to perform the 《So-U-Ka-Na》 check on every piece of information that comes from the screen, you will get tired and won't be able to keep it up. Conversely, it would be a problem if you end up feeling, "It's too much trouble, so I'll just believe everything."
So, try torelax a little, and only check when you encounter information that you hear for the first time and think, "Huh?" and feel like spreading it to those around you. If you do that, you will gradually get used to it, and you will be able to calmly accept any information as "we don't know yet" quite naturally.

Let's avoid both the exhaustion of checking everything and the exhaustion of being swayed by believing everything, and learn to get along with smartphones in a balanced way!

--- [Q9] and onwards will be at a later date.