Frederick Leighton - The Reconciliation of the Montagues and Capulets over the Dead Bodies of Romeo and Juliet, 1855. Wikicommons/Public domain. Some rights reserved.
Young people are more exposed than ever before to influences of all types and from all parts of the globe. Yet, many have little chance of gaining a reasoned and nuanced world view and are unlikely to be equipped with the critical thinking skills to enable them to navigate safely through this new array of media messages and conspiracy theories – as well as ‘fake news’ and ‘alternative facts’. With these latter threats in mind, should we invest so much in trying to stop such material from appearing, or instead, equip people with the skills to know the difference between fantasy and reality?
