In a world full of fake news and cybercrime, it is often difficult to distinguish who you can really trust.
Of course, some level of trust is required in order to embrace technology and enhance our lives, however, how many of us actually bother to confirm what we have be shown is in fact true?
A new study at the Texas Tech University tested how university students reacted when unknowingly given incorrect calculator outputs. Some students were presented with an on-screen calculator that was programmed to give the wrong answers, whereas a second group was given a properly functioning calculator.
Participants could also opt not to use the calculator, but most chose to use it – even if they had good numeracy skills. Researchers found most participants raised few or no suspicions when presented with wrong answers until the answers were quite wrong. Unsurprisingly, those with higher numeracy skills were more suspicious of incorrect answers than others.
In the real world
Calculators were created to make our lives easier, by reducing our mental burden. And in this research, there were no real consequences for participants who did not realise they were being duped.
However, would you be more careful in the real world? There’s no reason an individual ought to feel suspicious about a calculator, so the participants were acting in accord with what we might expect.
With knowledge comes power, but what about safety?
New technologies pose new challenges. To what extent do people blindly accept their technologies are safe, and that everyone online is who they claim to be?
It is difficult in the modern age to have the right balance between scepticism and trust. We are expected to embrace technology in our jobs, education and day to day communication with family and friends.
One positive takeaway from the calculator study is that training is critical if we want to improve people’s cybersecurity practices. This includes training individuals on what to do as online users, how to do it, and why it’s important.
