Are computers drawing teen conspiracy theorists? History says perhaps not

Once again, I’m reminded of my great disdain for the Internet.

This is not a rare occurrence with two teenagers living in my home. My perception of “www.com” is that it’s turning our future thinkers and leaders into paranoid, negative society members. It’s frightening that the trust of humankind falls on such temperamental youth, especially because many of them readily believe in conspiracy theories they watch online.

My theory is more conspiracy theories exist in the last few years due to the increase of Internet usage. And social media fuels the flame even more.

“Ban the computers; ban the computers!” hoards of exhausted parents from near and far chant.

It’s almost impossible for teenagers to stay away from the media.

Granted, it will mostly be picked up on a screen as big as a deck of cards. (And the next generation probably won’t even understand this reference.) The youth of today are getting so much information about a million things in what feels like a millisecond.

No wonder some youth are being warped into believing the earth is flat, that man didn’t step foot on the moon, and that Beyoncé and Jay Z are part of an elite club ruling the world called the Illuminati. Who comes up with this stuff?

These theories (plus many more) are all over the Internet, and it’s what the kids are watching in their free time.

I’m sure I’m going to get emails from the lunar landing lunatics telling me I’m in the wrong. Go ahead, I can always use a good laugh. But since the invention of the Internet, my theory is there are many more conspiracy theories than yesteryear. So I swiftly went to the Internet to prove my theory.

I found a Washington Post piece titled, “Five Myths of Conspiracy Theories,” by Rob Brotherton. He said a decade ago, some researchers had been studying “Conspiracism” through the ages, to determine if their theory on theories was gaining speed, staying the same or declining.

In their study, they took samples of 100,000 letters to the editors of the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune from between the years 1890 and 2010. I figured they believed hardcore conspiracy theorists would go straight to the top to complain. Not to the government itself, or leaders of the world, but newspaper editors. That seems logical, right?

The report, however, proved that contemporary conspiracy theories were just as popular today as they were in the past, due to indeterminable increases of outlandish ideas since social media made a presence.

Apparently, there have been wackadoos for hundreds of years, starting with Greek tragedies all through the Area 51 days. Well, that’s just great. That shot my theory to pieces.

I guess my theory of computers corrupting the world can be put on the back burner for a while. At least until I find a new report that agrees with me.

Stacey Hatton can be found cruising the Internet searching for reports to prove her theory. She can be interrupted at laughingwithkids@yahoo.com.

This story was originally published January 22, 2020 at 2:59 PM with the headline "Are computers drawing teen conspiracy theorists? History says perhaps not."