Why are 80% of the big rumors forwarded by middle-aged and elderly people?

Whenever I see a message like "a large number of old people gathered in the Bird's Nest with bags to collect money, but turned a deaf ear to police and radio rumors", most netizens will laugh it off.

As Netease users "Yan Toothless" spit out: "There are still too few scammers, and fools have to line up." This "humorous" view has won 30,000 praises, and many netizens regard this news as a joke.

But this is no joke.

Recently, it was reported that the "Charity Enrichment Conference" was held in the "Bird's Nest". Participants only need to pay 10 yuan to receive 50,000 yuan of charity money at the event site. Although police in many places have long denied rumors, victims all over the country still go to the "Bird's Nest" and the National Stadium is closed. The police persuaded these deceived people to return to the scene, and some victims still "believed it" and even severed their parent-child relationship with the persuaded family. ...

When online rumors are more credible than the words of the police, more valuable than the love between parents and children, and can make middle-aged and elderly people in all directions believe an empty talk, it is by no means ridiculous. Especially when you open WeChat to see if your elders have forwarded false "shock" and "secret news", you find yourself an "alternative hero" in the news.

80% of the "power forward" of rumors are middle-aged and elderly people over 50 years old.

"Scientists have found that Chinese medicine can kill 98% of cancer cells within 48 hours, forward!" "Watermelon and peaches can't be eaten together. Turn quickly. One more forwarding can save a life! " ...... Many people are familiar with this "health secret" that fills the circle of friends of middle-aged and elderly people. Some people call it "poison chicken soup for middle-aged and old friends".

Most people think that this kind of health rumor is harmless for the sake of "after all, the elders are also good for us".

However, in recent years, many elderly people have listened to the tragedy caused by online rumors. According to media reports, an 86-year-old woman in Hubei suffered from high blood pressure and stopped taking medicine because she heard the rumor that red wine soaked with onions could cure the disease, which led to a stroke.

After careful analysis, it is not difficult to find that those fraud gangs represented by "charity to enrich the people" and in the name of "unfreezing national assets" and "publicizing and implementing national policies" all use emotional incentives such as patriotism, charity and poverty alleviation. Fraud gangs often use a way of speaking that middle-aged and elderly people like to hear in WeChat groups to attract their interest and create a warm and serious atmosphere.

According to the Beijing Morning Post, members of such WeChat groups call each other "family". At first, the administrator just initiated some topics of "supporting domestic products, supervising each other" and "learning positive energy". At 7 o'clock every morning, a picture of a national flag and a music link of the national anthem will be sent to the group, calling on all family members to attend the flag-raising ceremony in the group.

These seemingly positive "routines" coincide with the propaganda mode of "Poisonous Chicken Soup" in the WeChat circle–all under the banner of seemingly positive, with "private goods". It is thought-provoking that this model has a great market.

According to the official background statistics of 20 16 wechat, middle-aged and elderly people send wechat messages 44 times a day and are becoming active users of wechat. At the same time, they are also becoming a big forwarding of rumors in WeChat friends circle. According to the survey, 80% of users who forward more than five rumors every month are middle-aged and elderly people over 50 years old.

The emptiness of the spiritual world urges the old people to believe rumors.

Why can an obviously flawed rumor spread widely among middle-aged and elderly people? Why do middle-aged and elderly people often become "prey" of fraud gangs? Many experts said in an interview with China Youth Daily and Zhongqing Online reporter that there are many reasons why the elderly are deceived, such as spiritual emptiness, herd mentality, family and so on.

Ms. Lu is a retired employee of a state-owned enterprise. She usually likes to forward some health knowledge in her circle of friends, especially to her daughter who has already worked. She told China Youth Daily and Zhongqing Online reporter frankly: "I really can't see if what WeChat said is true. After all, it is good for yourself and your family. I sent these for the health of my family. "

Ms. Lu's idea is also one of the main motives for many middle-aged and elderly people to forward rumors. Psychologist Chen Haosi analyzed this behavior of middle-aged and elderly people in the program "Positive Energy of Society": the core behind this is inner loneliness. They are eager for their children to be around, for their children to know their own lives, and for them to keep up with the rhythm of society, instead of being marginalized by children and society.

Sharla Cheung, a former media person, has long-term experience in social investigation and has been exposed to a large number of real cases in which the elderly have been cheated. He also believes that "middle-aged and elderly people have been separated from their children for a long time, and there is emotional emptiness, which is easy to be captured. This kind of emotional trick will convince the elderly and even be deceived willingly. "

In the "Bird's Nest" fraud incident, although the "50,000 yuan per person" lacks more details, the elements are vague, and the rumor seems untenable, it has finally become a "reality" under the hint of mutual encouragement and reinforcement of group friends.

Fang, a law professor at North China Electric Power University, believes that the elderly lack understanding of new media. "The older generation rarely doubts the falsity of traditional media reports, forming an inertial thinking, so that a liar takes an illegal publication printed by himself and believes it is true and thinks it is approved or agreed by the government. In fact, many victims have found scams in their hearts, but they are lucky and think they have been cheated. "

When the old man was cheated,

With China gradually entering an aging society, the number of empty nesters is increasing. How to balance the inner needs and social needs of middle-aged and elderly people and minimize the harm of online rumors is an urgent problem to be solved.

From 20 16 to 10, the Ministry of Public Security organized and deployed the public security organs of the countries involved to continuously carry out special crackdowns on WeChat fraud activities such as "unfreezing national assets". Up to now, * * * has destroyed 0/4 criminal gangs and arrested 204 suspects, initially verifying that the amount involved exceeded 730 million yuan, and successfully cracked a number of major fraud cases such as "Sanmin City", "Dragon International" and "5A Poverty Alleviation and Pension Project". However, it is obviously not enough to rely solely on the power of the government. As some netizens commented, "It is king not to let the elderly be deceived, but to care for the elderly as children."

Lu, CEO of Window of Shenzhen, said: "I am opposed to letting the elderly leave the Internet. We should help the elderly to share the progress of human civilization in many ways. "

When we were young, it was because our parents taught us that there would be no pie in the sky that we became alert to rumors today. However, when they grow up, the elders have become the "main force" to spread rumors. Whose dereliction of duty is this? Perhaps in addition to the efforts to crack down on rumors at the national level, children should also pay attention to feedback education.