Impact of the Digital Age: Does the proliferation of the internet and social media facilitate the revelation of UFO truths, or does it intensify the spread of misinformation?

This is a double-edged sword; the internet and social media are like both a magnifying glass and a kaleidoscope.

On the good side, it has indeed made the truth easier to uncover:

1. Everyone is a "witness": In the past, if you wanted to photograph a UFO, you'd have to be a photography enthusiast who happened to have a camera. Now? Everyone has a smartphone, and the cameras are quite good. As soon as something unusual appears in the sky, people can pull out their phones, record videos, and take photos, uploading them in minutes. The sheer volume of eyewitness evidence has exploded.

2. Information spreads fast, hard to suppress: In the past, a UFO incident in a certain area might only get a small mention in a local newspaper, or it might be dismissed as a rumor. Now, a clear video uploaded online can spread globally within hours. It becomes very difficult for official bodies to completely block or ignore it. Haven't you noticed the US military starting to release reports and videos in recent years? This is largely because public attention is so high that they can no longer keep it under wraps.

3. Global enthusiasts can "connect": Previously, if you were a UFO enthusiast, you might just read a few magazines and feel isolated. Now, through forums and social groups, like-minded people from all over the world can gather to analyze and discuss. If you capture something here, someone else might use professional software to help verify the video's authenticity, or someone might realize it's similar to a sighting reported in another country years ago. The power of this "collective intelligence" was unimaginable in the past.

However, on the bad side, it has also muddied the waters:

1. The barrier to fakery is too low: This is the most critical point. Modern computer graphics, video editing software, and even AI-powered image and video generation tools are incredibly powerful. Someone with a bit of technical skill can create a hyper-realistic UFO video from their bedroom. Often, a video goes viral for a while before experts expose it as a template from some software or a CGI creation. This makes it impossible for ordinary people to distinguish between what's real and what's fake.

2. Algorithms make you "addicted": Social media algorithms recommend content you like. Once you click on a UFO video, it will push hundreds, even thousands, of similar ones to you. These are a mix of real and fake, but most are attention-grabbing, exaggerated, or even purely fabricated. The more you watch, the more you feel like "UFOs are everywhere," forming an "information cocoon" where you sink deeper into misinformation.

3. "Noise" drowns out "signal": Because there are so many fake videos and misidentifications (like mistaking drones, stars, or kites for UFOs), it's like a giant landfill. Even if there are one or two diamonds hidden within (real, valuable clues), they can easily be buried by the sheer volume of trash. For professional researchers, sifting through this to find useful information is infinitely more work than before.

So, overall:

The internet has increased "possibility"; we have access to an unprecedented amount of information and evidence. But at the same time, it has made "discernment" unprecedentedly difficult.

For us ordinary people, what's needed now is not to get excited every time we see a blurry video, but to cultivate more skepticism and ask ourselves: "Could this be fake? Are there other explanations?"

It can be said that the internet has given us more opportunities to see the truth, but whether we can seize these opportunities depends on whether we possess "discerning eyes." The truth might be out there, but the difficulty of extracting it from the ocean of information is greater than ever before.