Content online can come in a variety of ways. 

Websites and social content. Music and podcasts. Streamed TV and movies. Many types of games. There are new types of online content emerging all the time. 

We are also creating content all the time, too. The last time you sent a text or email, that was content. 

Some online content is designed to change how you think or act. It might be an emotional advert for a charity that makes you want to donate. It might be a 'clickbaity' video thumbnail that makes you want to find out more. 

Sometimes, it can be misinformation (something that is factually incorrect) or disinformation (something deliberately designed to deceive you). 

That’s why it’s important to build ‘habits of enquiry’. In other words, where you regularly stop and ask: what is content trying to influence me to think, feel or do?

In day-to-day life, we often read between the lines about situations and ask what’s really going on. 

For example, if the parent of your child’s friend acted a bit differently with you one morning, you might start to wonder why. “Did I say something? Has my child done something? What is the reason?” 

Similarly, asking critical questions can help you get the right answers about content. 

It can be fact-checking. Do you know where the content has come from? Or, in other words, the source? 

It can also be about intentions. Why does this content make you feel a certain way? Why might it want to do that?

#1 -Ask yourself ‘What?’ and ‘Why?’ 

Start to practise some simple habits of enquiry. It doesn’t even have to be online content. It could be reading a book with your child, or listening to a song on the radio. 

What is it trying to make you feel or think? You can repeat this way of questioning content on and offline. Start small, and try gradually increasing how critical you are. 

#2 - Explore new sources 

One way to be more critical of content is to actively look for more of it, maybe from places you wouldn’t normally visit. 

It could be following a new social media account or channel, or getting your news from a different online source than you usually do. 

Set yourself a weekly challenge of browsing a news website you don’t often visit or following an account which you don’t always agree with. 

#3 – Try a little edit 

While you seek out some new content, you can also try cutting out some content sources that you are tired of.  It might be a website that has annoying advertising pop-ups or a messaging group where it’s more negative than positive. 

It might be changing the habit of where you go, or an act of blocking, leaving a group or unsubscribing. It doesn’t need to be a non-stop process but, now and then, ask yourself what accounts or channels you could do without. 

Data – and how to protect your privacy online 

Environments – and how to be wary of the places you go online 

Consequences – and how to understand the impacts of your actions online 

How to participate positively