The School Holiday Hoax

In the picture, a message claiming that there is no school tomorrow is being shared in a group chat. It is spreading quickly because students are forwarding it to their own friends and other chat groups, so the same message appears in many places at once. The message has no official source and appears to be a screenshot rather than a school announcement. What I also noticed is that some students are already replying happily, which makes it look more believable to the next person who reads it.

Last year there was a rumour in my school that our sports day had been cancelled because of the weather forecast. It spread very quickly during recess and some of my classmates did not bring their PE attire the next day. It turned out to be untrue, and those students had to sit out while everyone else took part. I remember thinking that nobody had actually checked with a teacher, including me.

I think false news spreads quickly because it is often something we want to be true, and we forward it before checking. It also spreads faster than the correction does, since the exciting message gets shared while the boring truth does not. Before believing anything, we should check an official source such as the school website or ask a teacher directly, and we should avoid forwarding it until we know. Most importantly, if we did share something untrue, we should tell the same people once we find out, because correcting it is just as important as not spreading it.