The Lecturer Team of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP) Universitas Brawijaya (UB) carried out community service activities with the theme of Digital Democracy School as Political Education Facing the Threat of Disinformation for the Young Generation. This activity took place on Friday (19/7) which was aimed at grade XI students of Lumajang 2 State Senior High School, in collaboration with the General Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu) of Lumajang Regency.
This education aimed at improving the understanding and skills of the younger generation regarding digital democracy, digital literacy, and efforts to combat disinformation. The rise of disinformation as a new challenge in the century of disruption-post-truth in this era of digital democracy, provision and training to create information resilience is very important for the younger generation who are vulnerable to disinformation exposure. This Digital Democracy School activity was initiated by three FISIP UB Lecturers, namely Dr. Verdy Firmantoro, Yuliezar Perwira Dara, M.Psi. and Arief Setiawan, MPS.
This activity was very well received by the Principal of Lumajang 2 State Senior High School, Moh. Yatim Khudlori, M.Pd. This was conveyed in his speech which also opened the event, that this activity supports the Pancasila Student Profile Strengthening Project (P5) in the independent curriculum, specifically on the 2nd theme, namely “Voice of Democracy” which aims to provide reflection to students regarding the implementation of democracy both in the school environment and in the community.
The Digital Democracy School activity was attended by Lutfia, S.Pd., as the Chairperson of Lumajang Regency Bawaslu. In her presentation, she conveyed the importance of maximizing the role of the younger generation in the era of digital democracy as an effort to increase the political participation of new voters to be more active and critical. Bawaslu as an important part of the Election Organizer appreciates the Digital Democracy School program for helping to realize peaceful elections, especially by increasing the capacity and quality of literacy of young voters.
This activity was attended by 396 students of grade XI of Lumajang 2 State Senior High School who participated enthusiastically. The Head of the Community Service Program Team, Dr. Verdy Firmantoro also participated as a speaker by delivering material on the Resilience of the Young Generation against Political Disinformation: Building Media Criticism Through Digital Democracy Schools. The definition of disinformation, characteristics of disinformation, how disinformation can emerge especially in a political context, and ways or tips to deal with it were explained. In addition, ethics and how to use social media properly and correctly were also explained.
“In political moments, including those that will take place, namely the simultaneous Regional Election, there is the potential for the practice of spreading disinformation for political interests. Therefore, it is not enough in today’s era to just search for or get information, but more importantly, we must be able to understand, verify and sort out which information is true and which is a hoax,” explained Verdy.
Member of the Community Service Team who is also a Lecturer in Psychology at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Brawijaya University, Yuliezar Perwira Dara, M.Psi., also completed the briefing in terms of psychology, in the briefing it was conveyed how the role of emotions can encourage political awareness. In addition, it was also explained how to manage emotions so that good decision-making can be made in receiving information.
In addition, the Lecturer in International Relations at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Brawijaya, Arief Setiawan, MPS., also explained in the briefing which included: understanding the aspects of democracy, the current infodemic phenomenon, also the firehose of falsehood which is a technique in conveying disinformation, to several ways to prevent the threat of disinformation, one of which is through political education. [verdy/pon/UB PR/ Trans. Iir]
