Instagram is destroying critical thinking, and today it caused a huge argument with my mother.

Instagram seems to be ruining people's ability to think critically.

Seeing my own mother affected by this was incredibly disappointing. It started with a video she sent me today. It showed a crowd giving the middle finger to Trump Tower with a caption claiming it was "People after Epstein file release." A quick search proved this was completely false it was actually an old photo from the Women's March in 2017, totally unrelated to the current news. It was a classic example of an old image being recycled to push a fake narrative.

I just had a massive argument with my mom about it. She sends me many Instagram reels that turn out to be fake after a quick fact-check. I usually correct her politely, but today when she sent me this clearly misinformed video, I pushed back. I told her the post made no sense and used Gemini to verify the facts for her with proof.

She dismissed it and said, "Why are you digging so deep? I don't want to know more." That comment really hurt me because misinformation needs to be called out and seeing my own mother become a part of this made me go blank for a while. I told her to stop watching, report it and not sharing this kind of trash, which started a massive argument. Was I wrong to tell her to stop using Instagram for real news?

I know that I shouldn't be asking random strangers on the internet about me and my mother, but this thing is serious. People are treating Instagram as a source of real information, and it is leading them to live in a fake world.