For the new up and coming generation (my generation) we don’t need to worry about information. Within a few clicks you can find pretty much anything on the internet today and it’s only going to get more cluttered with, non-other than, more information. When I was in high school we struggled to find information in the text books we were forced to read, that were outdated. If we had a question that wasn’t in the textbook we struggled to find answers because we didn’t have tools like Google, Wikipedia, and blogs filled with hyperlinked sources.
Today I’m not worried about lack of information, I’m worried about how we filter the information that make up our opinions and views. Many trusted news sources have been known to be wrong, more and more so-called news outlets have sprung-up online, and propaganda is thrown at us almost daily. How do you cut through the clutter? And who do you trust?
Doubt what you read, hear and watch.
Orville Wright once said; “If we all worked on the assumption that what is accepted as true were really true, there would be little hope of advance.“ The next time you read a stat that seems a little far fetched find the source, keep digging until you verify it’s origin. I listen to podcasts like RadioLab and Skeptoid because I trust their sources and I believe what they tell is the truth. I get a chuckle out of people who jump on the Zeitgeist band wagon without checking the sources to see if what Peter Joseph preaches is actually true. One I fell for was the Global Warming fan club, which after seeing Al Gore live is difficult not to support. I can now say I was completely wrong, want to know where I formed my opinion? Read SuperFreakonomics then tell me what you think of global warming.
Information is not what we’re worried about, it’s the opinions formed from the vast amount of information, when using the wrong filter. We’re all guilty of it, but we can improve, get smarter and research our opinions better. So what is your filter?
