Email hoaxes as teaching tools

Getting an email about the lethal properties of NutraSweet/aspartame or a national cellphone do-not-call list or making a large amount of money by helping someone in a foreign country stash their cash can actually be a teachable moment for parents and kids. In this age when critical thinking is a precious commodity, sitting down at a computer with our kids and checking out a much-forwarded email like one of the above at sites like Hoaxbusters.org or Snopes.com can turn hoaxes into teaching tools. Sometimes these hoaxes get really visceral, like the Bush administration's "imminent plan" to reinstitute the draft. In his blog today, the Washington Post's security columnist Brian Krebs also mentions the one about "venomous, ravenous spiders that could be lurking under toilet seats."