Being informed is valuable in all areas of our lives. We can connect and understand the world in a much deeper way.
Information is power. In the modern era, there are so many ways we can get information, which can be both a blessing and a curse.
The changing ways of distributing and consuming information make it difficult to verify and ensure we are getting quality information. One of the larger issues is do we even care about facts? Are we comfortable operating as a society with opinions masquerading as facts?
The constant availability of an abundance of content can be overwhelming even to the most media-savvy consumer. Our feeds ability to tailor content just for us allows us to comfortably engage in safe content that can reinforce existing beliefs and ideas.
It is not just that, but the consistent attack on information makes it hard to trust anything we read online. This feeling allows us to fall back to what is comfortable. This is especially problematic because it cuts off our motivation to seek quality information. Why bother if everything is “fake news.”
The onus is on us to find out the facts and verify them, to look objectively and without emotional attachment to any outcome. We need to look at information with curiosity instead of a gotcha or as a means to verify a preconceived idea. Always go in with what if I am wrong? Or prove that my opinion is correct.
The internet provides us with many opportunities and resources to find information. Our reliance on constant updates and lazy scrolling further perpetuates this lack of desire for quality information.
Facts matter and our society cannot function without it.