As the HN community remains one of the best sources of unbiased information and civilized discussion, I am interested in how you try to stay informed and unbiased in a world of misinformation.
Here are some basic principles I have learnt and tools and strategies I try to apply:
1. One of the most fundamental problems I have seen in dealing with the flood of information in our modern society is the pressure to have an opinion on everything, even when the complexity of the issues no longer allows us to make an informed judgement. In my experience, forming opinions under pressure often leads to superficial understanding or polarised views.
2. Much of today's media content seeks to convey opinions rather than provide objective information. Such media content, driven by political or business interests, can be easily identified by the fact that it only reflects the arguments of one side and completely ignores other arguments.
3. Most (social media) information platforms based on feeds will sooner or later try to attract the most attention by seducing you into scrolling and scrolling. Therefore, always try to proactively decide what media content you want to consume, rather than leaving the decision to someone else.
4. Information that deals with the complexities of our societies should be based on peer-reviewed scientific publications; the more open source code, data and access that is provided as part of a study, the more "traceable" and reproducible the knowledge that is created. This does not mean that everything published in this way is correct, but at least it allows for evaluation of the knowledge created, which ultimately leads to facts in the form of scientific consensus. So look for and ask for information based on scientific papers that are at least peer-reviewed and open-access.
Here are some tools I've found to limit my information consumption without going completely offline:
1. Firefox with uBlock Origin and Brave Browser will help you block most attention-seeking and manipulative ads.
2. News Feed Eradicator helps you limit the amount of feeds you consume on social media platforms, while still staying connected to your peers through those platforms.
3. StayFocusd can help you limit the amount of time you spend scrolling through news websites on smartphones and desktops.
I'd love to hear how the HN community tackles the issue of misinformation. What strategies or tools do you use to stay informed and avoid misinformation at the same time? What do you think about the way I'm going?
1. One of the most fundamental problems I have seen in dealing with the flood of information in our modern society is the pressure to have an opinion on everything, even when the complexity of the issues no longer allows us to make an informed judgement. In my experience, forming opinions under pressure often leads to superficial understanding or polarised views.
2. Much of today's media content seeks to convey opinions rather than provide objective information. Such media content, driven by political or business interests, can be easily identified by the fact that it only reflects the arguments of one side and completely ignores other arguments.
3. Most (social media) information platforms based on feeds will sooner or later try to attract the most attention by seducing you into scrolling and scrolling. Therefore, always try to proactively decide what media content you want to consume, rather than leaving the decision to someone else.
4. Information that deals with the complexities of our societies should be based on peer-reviewed scientific publications; the more open source code, data and access that is provided as part of a study, the more "traceable" and reproducible the knowledge that is created. This does not mean that everything published in this way is correct, but at least it allows for evaluation of the knowledge created, which ultimately leads to facts in the form of scientific consensus. So look for and ask for information based on scientific papers that are at least peer-reviewed and open-access.
Here are some tools I've found to limit my information consumption without going completely offline:
1. Firefox with uBlock Origin and Brave Browser will help you block most attention-seeking and manipulative ads.
2. News Feed Eradicator helps you limit the amount of feeds you consume on social media platforms, while still staying connected to your peers through those platforms.
3. StayFocusd can help you limit the amount of time you spend scrolling through news websites on smartphones and desktops.
I'd love to hear how the HN community tackles the issue of misinformation. What strategies or tools do you use to stay informed and avoid misinformation at the same time? What do you think about the way I'm going?