Humanities Homework Help

Assignment : 300 words

Discussion : 300 words

Reflection : 300 words

• 1-5: Activity: Spot the TrollAssignment
  

  Spot the Troll is a website developed by Clemson University that presents 8 real-life social media profiles and challenges visitors to determine which are authentic (i.e., the profiles of real people) and which were fake (i.e., bot profiles made to spread psuedoinformation while looking real). Here is the description from the website:The quiz presents users with 8 profiles, each of which includes both profile information and a brief selection of posts from a single social media account. The user is asked to decide if the content comes from an authentic account or a professional troll. Each question is followed by some tips that might help in the future, as well as the opportunity to explore more details.There are a number of well-known tactics employed by bots and trolls on social media you may have seen in the past. These include unsolicited messages, hyper-active accounts, accounts with no profile image, accounts with stolen profile images, or computer generated account names. While some of the troll accounts we discuss in the quiz used these tactics, they are not the focus of what we cover.All of the accounts and posts used in this quiz, both the genuine accounts and the trolls, have been taken directly from Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Nothing has been changed.Please be aware that the quiz contains screen captures of social media posts showing sensationalized imagery and inflammatory text that was spread online specifically to elicit strong emotional and psychological reactions. Try applying the following metacognitive strategies to remain focused on “spotting the troll.”

  • Remind yourself that some of the images and text you are seeing were created to be divisive and polarizing.
    • Ask yourself questions like:
      • “What kind of content am I looking at?”
      • “Is this information or psuedoinformation?”
      • “How might my mood be influenced by having seen this?”
    • Check in with yourself as you are viewing the profiles.
      • “how did I feel when I saw that?”
      • “why did I feel that way?”
      • “what do I think about that feeling?”
    • Maintain a sense of mindfulness
      • “is my awareness with the present moment or something in the past or future?”
    • Remember Buster Benson’s Three Conundrums (too much information, need to make sense, and too little time)
      • “Am I experiencing any cognitive biases or effects right now?”

  First, navigate to Clemson University’s Spot the Troll website and – applying metacognition and mindfulness – maintain focus on the task of identifying the bot profiles from the real ones. Once you’ve taken the quiz, respond to the responses below to complete your activity for today.1. What was your reaction to this activity?2. How many of the eight profiles did you identify correctly?3. What was the most surprising thing you learned in doing the activity?4. Were you surprised by any of the profiles being authentic/fake?5. Why or why not?6. Were the metacognitive strategies helpful in remaining focused on the task of identifying the trolls? 7. Why or why not? 8. What were three specific signs of a bot profile that you can remember and share from this website?

• 1-5: Discussion – Healthy Today, we explored how media – especially social media – can challenge our wellness by controlling and manipulating our attention, presenting unrealistic or unachievable images as common, and making psuedoinformation look like real information. Still, social media is a major part of the world and how we interact with each other.
  • How can we engage with social media in a way that is healthy, contributes to meeting our needs, and in general supports our well-being?
  • What types of challenges have you encountered with trying to use social media in a healthy way?
• 1-5: ReflectionAssignment
  

  Respond to the prompts below to complete today’s class.1. What will you remember from today’s class a year from now?2. What are two or three specific questions you have about our class topics now?3. Did you find learning about how social media is designed to monopolize your attention to be helpful? Why or why not?4. Do you feel prepared to identify and recognize forms of pseudoinformation? Why or why not? 5. What connections can you make between what you learned today and the information from our first four classes?6. How have things been going in general?7. Thinking back to the wellness behaviors from the beginning of the course, what specific actions have you taken over the last few weeks to support your well-being?8. What do you hope to accomplish over the next week?