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Stop E-mail Insanity

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 26, 2008

As a journalist for nearly two decades, I can think of no invention that has changed the face of my profession quite like computers and their natural outgrowth - the Internet. Good, bad or otherwise, the emergence of the World Wide Web has rocked the world of information exchange in a very profound way.

E-mail, in particular, has facilitated the information exchange like few other inventions before it. Unfortunately, it has also facilitated the spread of massive amounts of misinformation.

At least every few days, I receive a chain e-mail that warns about the disease of the week, the cancer cause of the week or some other impending, catastrophic illness that's going to kill us all. Throw out your plastic cookware or you'll get cancer. Don't use a particular floor mop or you'll kill your children and small, furry animals. Don't eat a particular candy bar or your hair will fall out. You get the idea!

During the election, I even received chain e-mails that proclaimed Sarah Palin a banner of books that hadn't been published during the time of her mayoral administration. Now that would have been quite a feat for the failed vice presidential candidate!

For as useful a tool as the Internet has proven to be, it has created a holding basket for an endless amount of false, useless and hurtful information. Here people are free to say anything they want - and they do.

Sadly, some people buy into the e-mails they receive and the Web sites they read as if the words on the screen are Gospel. They don't take the time to question or think for themselves. They don't make attempts to vet information before they send it off. They quickly scan the information, work themselves up into a tizzy and forward along the falsehoods.

Now, lest you think I'm picking on people without the resources to vet or the knowledge to research, let me explain the sources of questionable e-mails that are sent to me. They arrive in my box - at home and work - from family members, friends, readers and yes, sometimes, even fellow journalists (who should know better).

If you're ready to break the send cycle on misinformation, do these things:

• Stop and think before you hit send. Just because an e-mail says that the information comes from researchers at the Mayo Clinic or John Hopkins University doesn't make it so.

• Check with the official source. Use your Internet browser to go to the "source." Check out the Mayo Clinic's Web site, for example, to see if reports about the supposed research really exist.

• Pay Snopes.com a visit. This Web site exists to ferret out the truth or falsehood of Internet-based sensations, such as those e-mails about the cancer cause of the week.

• Visit FactCheck.org. This site has a distinctly political leaning, but it's a great place to check into claims about politicians.

The Internet is an incredible tool for communication, information sharing and even educating yourself. Use it to your advantage and help stop the insanity!

Sherri Lonon is the editor of In The Loop.

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