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151 sats \ 4 replies \ @Undisciplined 4 Jan \ on: How to avoid falling for lies and fake news by David Robson news
It's almost impossible to avoid imbibing intentionally misleading information.
The two main things I try to do are
- Have a deeper philosophical understanding of the world to measure news stories against (Does this make sense?)
- Have a truly diverse set of news sources (not just several different outlets that live in the same bubble).
We just had our parents around during the holidays and it's astonishing how much nonsense they've imbibed. Most of it goes unchallenged by us, because we don't want to create awkward social situations.
Your points make a lot of sense. After learning, reading, and having a basic understanding of things, we can become great at spotting false narratives. Your second point is especially accurate—most people who fall into the fake news trap do so because they’re feeding their brains only what they want to believe, which ends up trapping them inside a bubble they can’t escape.
I also use multiple sources and read from them, even if they don’t align with my preferences. I keep an eye on fact checker websites as well.
And yeah, old people share a lot of misinformation. Maybe they’re just too innocent when they see news on social media. But then I think about people my age sharing the same nonsense, and honestly, I feel like I need a psychology course to understand what thrill people get out of spreading misinformation. What’s so fun about it? It’s beyond me.
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It's tough, because there's a very natural (and not entirely wrong) drive to favor those who agree with us.
The other thing I should have included in the list is that I try to be very comfortable with uncertainty. Just because I hear something reported doesn't mean I have to believe anything about it. I can reserve judgement for after enough credible evidence has emerged.
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Just because I hear something reported doesn't mean I have to believe anything about it. I can reserve judgement for after enough credible evidence has emerged.
That’s the most accurate way of describing how to avoid being part of the dumb crowd. I also wait for a while to see updates and how things shared a few hours ago by the same media channels can completely change. I actually learned this from a Youtube video, and surprisingly, it works every time! Thanks.
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