The internet has undoubtedly been a boon for students and educators, giving students access to high-quality materials that were previously sequestered away in hard-to-access archives or university libraries. There’s now a wealth of information available at most peoples’ fingertips, and as internet access becomes cheaper and computers more mainstream yet more people are going to join the information superhighway. But as we create and digitise so much information—in 2006 alone humanity created 161 exabytes of data, equal to 161 million terabyte desktop hard-disks, or three million times the amount of information contained in all of the books ever written—it becomes more and more important to critically evaluate the information we’re presented with. Anyone can publish a website or blog now, so it’s more important than ever to be sceptical about the “truths” we’re presented with, especially if we’re using that information to make financial or life decisions.
With that in mind, here are some tips to help make sure you’re only getting the best, most reliable information when you’re surfing the web:
- Cross-reference: Before believing a claim, cross-reference it against a number of other sites to see if they all say the same or similar things. If one site claims that ylang-ylang essential oil is hazardous to health, search for more information before binning your bottles of ylang-ylang. (As it turns out, ylang-ylang is one of the safest known essential oils, although it can become a sensitiser in large quantities.)
- Do background research: In the ideal world of Socratic debate, a good argument is a good argument no matter who says it, and a fact is a fact no matter where you read it. Unfortunately, there’s just too much information out there these days for everyone to rigorously evaluate an argument or fact on its own terms, so doing a little bit of background research is essential. Who’s making the claim? What is their background? Do they have any credentials in the field? Where’s the information being published? Is it a reputable source? These are the kind of questions that can save you a great deal of time, as long as you keep a critical mind.
- Ask who benefits: This one’s been around since the ancient Romans, but “cui bono?” is still a great question to ask if you’re not sure whether or not to trust a piece of information. Who would benefit from you believing this is true? If you discover that the person who wrote the article about açaí berries curing diabetes just happens to sell açaí berries on his personal website, you might want to take that information with a grain of salt. (As it turns out, there’s no evidence that açaí berries cure diabetes, but they are a generally healthy food source.)
- Look out for confirmation bias: Humans are, unfortunately, wired to search for evidence that confirms their pre-existing patterns of thought rather than evidence that might change them. Thus we often find ourselves applying less critical thought to information that sounds or feels “right” than we would to something that genuinely surprises us, even if it turns out that the information is actually very wrong. For example, people who don’t like US president Barack Obama are more likely to believe that the false “fact” that he was not born in the US, because the idea that Barack Obama is an illegitimate president appeals to their dislike of him. If your response to a piece of new information is “I knew it!”, you should give some thought to the idea that the information might be deliberately crafted to appeal to your existing prejudices.
You don’t want to become a highly sceptical or overly critical thinker, for that way lies intellectual fossilisation. At the same time, it’s best to keep your mind open, but not so open that your brains fall out!
