Have you been online lately and thought – this just doesn’t look right?

Recently I saw a brief snippet online that looked like a TVNZ interview with Jack Tame. It showed a famous New Zealander advocating for an investment scheme that frankly sounded too good to be true.  It certainly looked realistic but my common sense said otherwise. Why would this famous person be promoting something that sounded too good to be true? And why would this be popping up on my newsfeed?

I’m pretty sure that this was an AI generated video and a financial scam. What’s happening? What we once trusted is now becoming like a junk mail box!

It’s now so easy to create false or misleading information and upload it to the internet.  It’s not only scams and fake pictures but also low quality content and it’s starting to flood our social media. It comes in the form of social media posts, altered pictures, videos, emails and junk adverts that compete for our attention. It’s even got a name – the SLOP economy – that stands for Seriously Lacking Objective Perspective.

Most of this content wastes our time and distracts us from reality. Some of it sends us down an addictive rabbit hole. Some of it is deliberately designed to mislead us, some of it is just shared by mistake. But why does this matter? It becomes harder to distinguish what is real and what is fake. Scams become more sophisticated, health or financial information may not be reliable and even photos and videos can be altered and manipulated.

We’re starting to lose confidence! But what can we do about it? STOP – THINK – CHECK!

If it’s an urgent appeal – slow down to consider. Ask someone you trust to have a look.  Verify! If it’s financial – check with your bank. If it’s medical, check with your pharmacy. If it’s a product, ask yourself if it really could deliver on its promise.

If you would like me to come talk to your group about any tech topics, flick me an email – heather@foresee.co.nz. Or come along to SeniorTech Skills at the library, Tuesday 1.30pm

A “thank you” to Heather Newell for sending this article to The Upper Hutt Connection.

08/06/26