Source: Trust Me Bro — Tip #14
On the importance of critical thinking in the digital era 🌐
Unless you have been sleeping in a cave lately, first of all good morning 👋 and second, there is so much going on in the world that it’s hard to keep up even for us that were awake in the meantime. I had to set aside this week’s original tip in favour of one I deemed far more important given today’s historical and geopolitical context.
Let me be clear: as much as I may have personal views on wars, religion, and other topics, Don’t Panic is meant to be neutral. Any suggestion or tip should be applicable regardless of your nationality, political views, or religion. Some tips may be gender-specific or involve other personal criteria, but those considerations will always be science-based (e.g. the amount of sunscreen you should apply depends on your skin tone). I’ll do my best to highlight those nuances. Alright, enough with the disclaimers, let’s get going!
On the 1st of March, missiles struck a primary school in Minab, southern Iran, killing at least 153 people, mostly children, and wounding nearly 100 more. An Iranian acquaintance I met in Dubai shared a reel on Instagram claiming this was carried out by Iranian forces to be blamed on US and Israeli military. Out of curiosity, I opened the comments section and, between 80% bots and 20% real users, it was nearly impossible to gauge the overall sentiment or understand who believed what.
This episode made me reflect on the countless times I’ve come across information, especially on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook, that was complete nonsense and easily fact-checkable. We live in a world where so much happens every second that no individual can possibly keep up, and given our biological limitations, we probably shouldn’t even try.
I chose this specific example because it represents perhaps the worst category of misinformation. Deception, false information, and propaganda are tools of war, used by all parties involved. During an ongoing conflict, contradictory narratives can coexist simultaneously, and it’s extremely difficult to witness a tragedy and immediately arrive at an explanation that holds up from every angle.
This person works in a luxury salon in Dubai: I wouldn’t consider him naive, he is still someone successful that managed to grow his career abroad. Now, imagine the vast number of people with even less critical thinking tools. We are living in a world where our information sources are so fast at delivering garbage entertaining content that our opinions, as a consequence, become low-quality too. I started to feel a little hopeless, until I reminded myself that the last thing we should do is give up → Don’t Panic.
Here are my non-science-backed suggestions on how to navigate this:
🗞️ Cut the news: Traditional media has repeatedly proven itself to be a vehicle for propaganda, regardless of where in the world you live. If you enjoy biased narratives, by all means keep watching your favourite TV channel or reading your favourite newspaper.
🗑️ Trash information from social media: It’s not worth it. You’re getting one useful piece of information for every hundred reels you scroll through. You are trading your time and mental clarity for noise.
🔻 Reduce your information overload: Your brain was never designed to process global events 24/7. Did you know there is an ongoing civil war in Myanmar that has displaced approximately 3 million people, with around 15 million requiring humanitarian assistance?
🏢 Follow international and independent sources: Some organisations and independent journalists genuinely strive to remain objective and report truthfully. I remain cautious, as access to reliable information is increasingly restricted but they are still a better starting point.
🗣️ Talk with your community: This is, for me, the most valuable approach. Many times a thoughtful conversation with a friend has helped me refine or even completely change my point of view, especially when they pointed me to a credible source I could verify myself.
As you can see, I don’t have a perfect recipe or a definitive solution. Access to trustworthy, unmanipulated information is one of the biggest challenges we face today, and I hope this has been an opportunity to reflect on how it shapes our lives, our thinking, and the way we show up in the world.
Your weekly tip: Be mindful of the information you feed your brain, especially when it comes from traditional or social media. Practice arguing both for and against your own point of view. Don’t overwhelm yourself with everything happening in the world 24/7 but when something matters to you, talk about it with the people around you. Your world may be small, but it’s the one that truly counts.
Don’t forget to share this tip with a friend and spark a conversation 🫰
See you next week, until then…
Don’t Panic 😱