Day 346: Information Literacy vs. Data Consumption

"I learned that dolphins are actually whales!" Carlos announced after his research time.

"Where did you learn that?" I asked.

"The internet!"

"Where on the internet?"

"Um... a website?"

"Which website?"

Silence.

That's when I realized: kids aren't learning information, they're consuming data. There's a massive difference. Information has context, source, purpose, reliability. Data is just random facts floating without anchor.

Carlos had consumed data about dolphins. But without source evaluation, without context, without verification, it wasn't information—it was digital gossip. He might be right about dolphins (he was partially right), but he had no way to know if he was right.

We've created a generation of data consumers who think they're informed. They collect facts like Pokemon cards but can't evaluate, synthesize, or apply them. They're full of data but empty of understanding.

So I started teaching the difference explicitly. Data: "The average person walks 10,000 steps a day." Information: "According to a 2019 study by the fitness tracker company Fitbit, analyzing 1 million users, the average American walks 7,500 steps daily, though this varies significantly by age, location, and occupation."

See the difference? Data is a naked fact. Information is a fact with clothes—context, source, nuance, limitation.

We practiced converting data to information. Take any random fact you "know." Now research: Who says this? Based on what? When? Why? What's the context? What are the limitations? Suddenly, simple facts become complex information.

The source tracking revolution changed everything. Kids keep information journals, not fact journals. Every entry includes: What I learned, Where from, Who created this, Why they created it, What might be wrong, What I still need to know. Facts became information.

Yesterday, Sarah's entry: "Learned: Octopi have three hearts. Source: National Geographic Kids website. Creator: Marine biologist Dr. Elena Rodriguez. Purpose: Educational article for children. Possible issues: Simplified for kids, might lack nuance. Need to know: Why three hearts? How does this help them?"

That's not data consumption. That's information literacy.

But here's the hard truth: most of what kids "learn" online is data, not information. TikTok facts, YouTube claims, Instagram infographics—all data pretending to be information. Teaching kids to see the difference is like teaching them to see the Matrix.

The application test became our filter. If you can't apply it, you don't understand it. Carlos's dolphin fact? We researched deeper. Learned about cetacean taxonomy. Now he can explain why dolphins are technically whales but we still call them dolphins. That's information, not data.