Overcoming Information Chaos

A Guide to Cultivating Peaceful Communities in the Digital Age

Danielle M. Reiff

• Publisher: Upriver Press
• Year: 2025
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• eBook ISBN:
  9798991284714
• Subtopic: Peace & Global Development
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Just a few decades into the digital age, we are learning the hard way that divisive information can contribute to widespread social and political polarization. How can we heal those divisions and cultivate healthier, more peaceful communities?
There is good reason to raise alarm bells about political polarization in the US. When grievances over inequality or election integrity erupt, a country can be at greater risk for political violence. Rapidly spreading misinformation and disinformation can exacerbate societal discontent and divisions.
Media literacy is a new and essential element of peacebuilding in the digital age. This book helps us understand how the media ecosystem has changed since the digital transition. It also provides practical guidance to help all citizens sort through the massive quantities of information we encounter daily, mitigate the diffusion of disinformation, and lean into constructive civic engagement that bridges our divides and builds community.
In the digital age, peacebuilding starts with learning to use the media responsibly. Ultimately, it's up to each of us to slow down and be savvier in our interactions with information and each other.
?Overcoming Information Chaos—written by a team of leading media scholars and practitioners, legal experts, psychologists, democracy specialists, and peacebuilders—provides expert guidance about how to defend ourselves against false information. The book also presents practical resources that can be applied in our busy routines, helping us to live as responsible citizens—people who mitigate the divisive consequences of information disorder and cultivate unity in diversity.

Table of contents

• Part I: The Nature and Consequences of Information Disorder
• Media Literacy Can Overcome Divisive Biases
• What Is Information Disorder?
• Can We Trust Digital Information?
• Can We Prevent AI from Accelerating Information Disorder?
• How Information Disorder Threatens Democracy and Fuels Political Violence
• The History of Information Disorder
• Does the Mainstream Media Still Matter?
• The Challenge of Declining Local News
• Can Laws Mitigate the Divisive Impacts of Digital Information?
• How to Discern if Election Information Is Real
• Strategies for Cultivating Healthy Information Ecosystems
• Media Literacy for Civic Engagement and Social Cohesion
• Media Literacy Unites People at the Local Library
• Mormon Women Leverage Media Literacy for Peacemaking
• A Peacebuilder’s Manifesto for the Digital Age
• Seven Media Literacy Principles
• Reliable Fact-Checking Sites
• Framework for Building Positive Peace
• Suggestions for Improving the Legal Environment
• Citizens Assemblies at a Glance
• Endnotes