The Truth is Out There

The problems with lacking media literacy in school

Kieran McIntosh, Staff Writer

May 30, 2025

Fake news graphic created on Canva

These days, it feels like there’s a new viral trend every time you open your phone. One minute, it’s a new TikTok dance taking over your feed. The next, it’s someone cooking chicken in NyQuil. The internet moves fast, and it’s easy to get caught up in the chaos. But while we’re all busy scrolling, something important is getting left behind: media literacy.

Essentially, media literacy involves knowing how to distinguish between what is real and what is not online, and it’s becoming a lost skill. Many of us spend hours a day on the internet, but that doesn’t always mean we know how to identify fake news, understand biased content or recognize when something is satire. And that’s a problem.

Students’ schoolwork often involves research; if you don’t know how to tell which sources are legitimate, your whole project can fall apart. It’s not just about Googling the right thing; it’s about knowing what information you can trust and what you should skip.

AI tools make this even trickier. Sure, they can help you brainstorm or organize ideas, but a lot of people are using them to do their research, and that’s risky. AI doesn’t always get things right. It can make up sources or give outdated information, and if you’re not careful, you could end up turning in something that sounds smart but isn’t accurate at all.

When we don’t learn how to think critically about what we see online, it’s easy to fall into the trap of believing stuff that just isn’t true. That can lead to a bigger issue: people rejecting science, facts, or even the value of education altogether. And when that happens, everyone loses.

This is already prevalent in the elderly generation. How many times have you heard your grandparents say something extremely incorrect and preface it by saying, “But I found it on the internet!” However, it’s not their fault that quite literally the first thing that comes up when you Google something is the ever-unreliable AI overview.

That’s why media literacy needs to be a larger part of the education system. We need to learn how to fact-check, spot bias and understand how online content is made and shared. It’s not just about doing better on assignments, it’s about being smarter online and in real life.

So next time you’re scrolling past a wild headline or using AI for homework, take a second to ask: “Is this legitimate?” The more we practice thinking critically, the better prepared we’ll be for school and everything that comes after.

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About the Contributors

Kieran McIntosh, Staff Writer

Kieran McIntosh is a junior at Robinson and a Staff Writer at Robinson. This is his first year on staff. McIntosh has been involved in journalism since middle school. “We didn’t really write many stories,” he said. “We just practiced writing newspapers. But I wanted to join journalism at Robinson because I wanted to extend that knowledge and learn more about the journalism field.” During his first year on staff, McIntosh is excited to explore interviewing and photography around the school. “I really like photography, so I definitely want to take a lot of pictures for stories,” he said. Besides his background with newspaper, McIntosh has many hobbies inside and outside of school. One being his involvement in Robinson’s Speech and Debate Club. “I like it because it’s very competitive, and it also allows you to be really creative in what you want to write,” McIntosh said. “So surprisingly, the arguments are really exhilarating, kind of like a sport, almost, because you’re competing.” In addition to that competitive spirit, Kieran’s goals this year are to get straight As and a high score on the PSAT for national merit. He’s also added advanced math courses to his IB course load. “Another goal is to get through a calculus course, so I’ve been doing AB and BC calculus, and that’s the main thing I’m focusing on.” Although hard to balance his school and free time, when not overwhelmed with schoolwork, Kieran often spends time coding. “Right now, I’ve been practicing coding, so I’m learning how to work with databases. For example, storing that information, and if someone wants to whittle that information down to a certain category, then they will be able to do that on a website,” McIntosh said. With this interest he is conflicted between two areas of study. “I am thinking about going into the field of biochemistry or computer science. I am leaning towards the biochemistry field though because the computer science field is a little too oversaturated,” McIntosh said.

Anika Sanka, Features Editor

Anika Sanka is a junior at Robinson and this is her second year on staff. This year, she will be serving as the Knight Writer’s features editor. She is an active club member at Robinson, acting as the vice president of the book club and the donation head for the clothes for kids club. She also runs for the Robinson track team outside of school. Sanka says one of the things she really likes about the Robinson track team is its structure. “Running doesn’t really seem that hard, but just motivating yourself to go on a run when you could just be sitting at home is hard,” Sanka said. “That and the team, it’s always more fun to do stuff with friends.” After growing up reading the newspaper regularly, Sanka joined the staff to have fun while learning, and she says it has been very beneficial to her writing over the years. “It’s really easy to get writers block, and this just helps you. The more you practice, the better you are, the easier it’ll come,” Sanka said. “I think it’s really helped me expand my writing skills.” Her goals for this year are to create an exceptionally good print issue for the paper. Outside of school, Sanka’s hobbies include reading good books, baking, swimming recreationally, and running to a fun playlist. “I think it makes me more efficient, sometimes, if I just come home and I’m trying to do my homework, I have a hard time focusing. If I do something else before, and don’t go straight into that, it helps me focus,” Sanka said. Her plans for after high school include attending college and going into pre-law. “There’s so many different kinds of things you can do,” Sanka said regarding the pre-law track, “you could do business, you could just be in meetings all day, or you could be talking to people about how to get their green card. I just like that there’s so many different ways you can use your degree.”