The Mortal Coil of Covid-19, Fake News, and Negative Epistemic Postdigital Inculcation

Abstract

AbstractThe Covid-19 pandemic has engendered turmoil around our globe, rendering an urgent need for accurate, truthful information as a life-saving resource for humanity. However, coinciding with this global, deadly pandemic is the proliferation of fake news. While pandemics and fake news are not new phenomena, an unprecedented time in history is presently unfolding when considered with the postdigital era. Digital media enables the prolific repetitious spread of fake news during crises when accurate and truthful information is necessary. Consequently, the ability of humans to discern between fact and fiction diminishes. It has resulted in some people making life-ending decisions based on their exposure to fake news. In this article, I define a primarily ignored and invisible epistemological process at work: negative epistemic postdigital inculcation, that, while has been at work with the rise of modern digital media, has primarily become visible because of the interrelationships between implicit learning, Covid-19, fake news, and digital media. While the inculcation outlined in this paper occurs mostly outside of our awareness, I discuss a role for education in helping reduce the ensuing mortal coil of fake news.