How do you know what you know? Name one new thing you learned using a social media site today and explain why you believe it is true. What source did you use to acquire this information? At times, are social media sites reliable for obtaining credible information?

How do you know what you know? You know what you know by experience. When I was a child my parents taught me to ask questions to seek answers and to never be satisfied with an answer I didn't like. When it comes to knowing and believing things, I am really a skeptic on all accounts. I have a very hard time believing something that is told to me or that is written, unless I have experienced it or seen it with my own eyes. My dad has always told me to believe half of what I see and nothing I hear and that has always stayed with me. I generally am one who challenges answers and asks questions to gain a better understanding on something before I can make any type of determination. I truly believe that someone will never really know anything until they allow themselves to open their minds and accept what is perceived as being true. What I mean by that is unless we have first hand knowledge of a situation, we can not fully trust the source and the information being provided, however, if we are able to believe based off our own checks and balances, then we can better understand and prepare ourselves for what we are seeing/reading or hearing.

Social media plays a part in my life every single minute of every single day, whether I want it to or not. Facebook keeps me up to date with what all my friends are doing and what the latest trend or stories are. Take today for example, I woke up at 7:00 a.m, looked at my phone and saw that I had an update from Facebook. I open my Facebook app and the first thing that hits me is a story from the Chicago Tribune about Adrian Peterson, who is one of the best running backs in the National Football League (NFL). Because of everything that has been going on in the NFL and because of my almost crazy obsession with anything sports related, this caught my eye. The Chicago Tribune isn't really a source that I have viewed so I was unsure if the information was accurate or not. The article talked about how Peterson was found guilty and charged with child abuse for beating his child and leaving him with cuts, scrapes and bruises all over his body. It didn't go into great detail but only talked about how he would be deactivated for his game this Sunday 9/14/2014 and how this legal matter was something that the NFL needed to look into. At this point, I was so curious about the story and because of the lack of detail, I needed to check multiple sites such as ESPN, NESN, CBS Sports and Profootballrumors.com, in order to recover as much detail as I could so I could make a determination for me, as to whether or not the information I am reading is credible. After finding out that Peterson turned himself in to authorities within hours of being charged and hearing the remorse in his voice from his interview, I quickly looked into what caused this behavior. I read in the articles that he was trying to discipline his child for causing harm to another child, and in order to get his message across, he treated his son with the same form of discipline that he was treated with. That meant he told his son to go get a tree branch or a switch and bring it back so he could spank the child with it. Come to find out, Peterson didn't seem to realize that this is not okay in today's time and that what we grew up with and how he was disciplined cannot be accepted today. The article talked about how before and after he disciplines his kids, he talks and explains to them why they are getting the discipline and then after how he is sorry and tells them that he is trying to teach them a lesson. What I am trying to get at is the first update I received at 7:00 a.m led me to this story. The original story I received what choppy and really just gave a headline with no exact details. I didn't trust the source and retreated to other sources I did trust. Once confirming the real story, I have since deemed the Chicago Tribune as a credible source and will continue to trust their stories.

Although I found the above story to be true and I learned about it from a Social Media website, I would not use Social media platforms as the only reliable source of information. For the most part, I think that social media plays a huge part in the falsification of information due in large part because it allows for anyone to post anything at any time. Twitter allows for many different iterations of a news story and is available for the world to see at the touch of a button. Social media can be reliable, however, I like to research multiple media outlets before making any determinations of what is accurate or not. I have said time and time again that it is the media's job to entertain us, so I have a real hard time believing everything I read and hear, unless I have experienced it for myself.