Before I write about any more topics, it’s worth examining how we gather and evaluate information in a world dominated by social media. What I am talking about is social media in all its forms and the influencer culture it has created. A recent study found that U.S. adults get 53%-54% of their news from social media (Pew Research Center, 2025), and 38% of the news consumed by adults 18-29 comes from “news influencers” on social media. Clearly, social media plays a large role in our culture.
I’m the first to admit that I’m terrible at social media. I’ve tried to use it effectively, but the skills it demands run counter to my personality. I have too many interests to stay in one lane, I dislike posting content just to stay visible, and my follower count reflects that I’m, at best, an acquired taste. On top of that, I simply don’t enjoy the medium. It moves too fast, handles facts too loosely and leaves no room for meaningful debate or careful judgment.
Academia operates differently. As much as I resist the label, I’m an academic, and academic work unfolds over years. A single study requires replication, follow-up research, rigorous analysis and peer review before anyone sees the results. Only after this long process do ideas finally enter public conversation, where they can be debated, scrutinized or even disproven. This slow, methodical approach isn’t a flaw — it’s the point. If the goal is accuracy and understanding, science needs time, and real learning happens on a timeline that social media simply cannot accommodate. That difference is the divide between true education and the illusion of education created by quick, attention-grabbing information.
When people look online for solutions, what they receive is information but not necessarily education. Information might be correct, half-correct or entirely wrong. Social media is designed to attract eyeballs, not build understanding, and its priorities of speed, emotion and engagement are often the opposite of what learning requires. This is why “micro-lessons” and bite-sized “micro-learning” have become so misleading. They feel educational because they’re clean, simple and polished, but they strip away context, uncertainty and limitations.
Influencers and pseudo-educators chase likes, clicks and subscriptions. High-quality educational creators exist, but the ones who do the hard work of genuine teaching are rarely the most popular. A good story can go viral even if it’s completely wrong.
Education, on the other hand, is deliberate. It relies on structure, repetition, logic and evidence. It builds a mental framework that allows you to interpret new information. If you want to learn soil chemistry, for example, you need a foundation in chemistry, biology and soil science before advanced concepts make sense. That framework allows you to judge whether new claims are valid or misleading. Without it, new information simply floats by, impossible to contextualize. Unfortunately, a strong foundation in chemistry or biology takes time that social influencers are rarely willing to give.
This article is not about social media. It is really about how we take in new information and evaluate it. Social media is nothing compared to the onslaught of artificial intelligence-generated slop and fake information that we are starting to experience. And it is only going to get worse. As a professor trying to train the next generation, it is, frankly, scary.
At the start of the fall 2025 semester, a colleague encouraged me to open my Advanced Turfgrass Management class not with content but with a process of how to interpret information. Students may forget factual details of soils or plants, but they remember the framework that helped them evaluate those facts, and it is the framework of logic, reason and humility that can be used in all aspects of turfgrass management. We explored different forms of evidence, sources of uncertainty and logical fallacies like appeals to authority and false cause relationships. This approach sparked vibrant discussions throughout the semester and made the course one of the most enjoyable I’ve taught in years.
I am not anti-social media. It can be an incredible way to connect with individuals and share information. I am not anti-AI, but it will take a guarded mind to discern truth from fiction. Understanding the difference between information and education is the starting point.
Flagstick Out.
Scott McElroy, Ph.D., is a professor of turfgrass management and weed science in the Department of Crop, Soil & Environmental Sciences at Auburn University, Auburn, Ala. He is a 19-year member of GCSAA.