We often demonize the boomer generation as reactionary and conservative, condescending, clinging to outdated traditions, out of touch with reality. However, the recent Capitol riots have revealed the hidden tragedy of this generation. They are the generation that has lost its place in modern society, and the generation that we have left behind.

Boomers are undoubtedly products of their time. They were raised in an almost completely different world: a world where traditional gatekeepers still held their authority over information, a world before the post-truth world of today. 

They were simply not equipped to deal with the informational and cognitive problems of a post-truth society. This makes them especially susceptible to the dangers of misinformation and disinformation.

Struggling for truth

I guess you could count my mom as an exception, or more accurately, someone who struggles against and is acutely aware of her generation’s weakness. She has spent all her life struggling for the truth, both as a doctor and as a mother.

Dealing with the challenges of becoming a doctor in a post-truth society, my mother felt disillusioned with the absolute authority of science. Faith in science can be difficult when science fails us, or when numerous alternative studies challenge the dominant paradigm. 

Science does not have the answer to everything. My mother, and her initial medical education, could not explain at all why certain treatments did not work, why certain symptoms manifested for no apparent reason, and why certain drugs would be approved despite side effects. She could not understand why two patients, who were given the same treatment for the same diagnosis, manifested completely different outcomes with one recovering and the other not.

However, instead of losing all faith in science, my mom chose to take an infinitely more critical stance to science. She chose to put her decisions through rigorous personal critique, much reserved caution, and some thinking out of the box. In fact, this is the mark of a true scientist.

Science is not perfect, for it is a continuous debate.

Having been raised under an even more boomer generation, my mother experienced firsthand the toxic Filipino cultures and traditions still held by previous generations. It was a very authoritarian upbringing. Even the boomers had their own boomers. There existed an intergenerational cycle perpetuating harmful traditions.

In raising me, my mom chose to break this cycle by similarly taking a critical stance towards tradition. By acknowledging that some traditions have lost their place in contemporary society, my mother adapted them to fit our context and to lose the toxic ones. 

Tradition is not perfect, for progress is a sustained project.

Critical thinking and information literacy

So what does the story of my mother’s struggles tell us about our present problems? Critical thinking and information literacy will be key to navigating our post-truth world.

With my mom being the exception to the rule, just imagine how much worse off those are who do not possess the same necessary critical thinking skills. Lack of such skills can lead one to become lost and overwhelmed by the chaos and oversaturation of modern information, to lose a sense of cognitive stability and independence, and ultimately to disasters such as the Capitol insurrection and other cult-like movements.

Aside from critical thinking cultivation, there still lacks a strong and sustained focus on information literacy in education. The failure to provide such through accessible classes is especially acute in how the older generations feel as though they have been left behind by the modern internet. This social exclusion either leads them to stop participating in civil society, or to be manipulated by disinformation and misinformation.

Social news sites over social media sites

An interesting solution can be seen in Anna White’s research on how the social news site Reddit serves as an example of information literacy at work. Reddit provides an analogy for how authority is both constructed and contextual, especially in the absence of traditional gatekeeping authorities. 

In other words, “authority” in this social news site is critically and intersubjectively constructed according to various indicators and established rules. This type of cognitive authority is at play in Reddit’s inherent structure as a social news site.

More importantly, Anna White emphasizes that Reddit can teach students how to conveniently practice information literacy through linking their personal and academic lives.

We have undeniably left behind a generation in the evolution of modern technology and social media sites. They, alongside other disadvantaged groups, have been left ill-equipped to deal with the struggles of a post-truth environment. To begin to bring people back into the fold of critical and civil discourse will require a renewed initiative towards critical thinking, information and media literacy education, and even a reconsideration of the roles of social media and social news sites. – Rappler.com

Enrikko Sibayan is a student of the Ateneo de Manila University, currently taking an AB-MA in Political Science, major in Global Politics, and a minor in Development Management.