Information Evaluation Made Simple

Key takeaways

• Forwarded claims play the whisper game, losing context and gaining drama with every retelling, so find the first whisper in the line before you judge.
• A racing pulse is a smoke alarm, not proof of fire, and some messages are built to set it off, so pause before passing anything on.
• Three plain questions do most of the work: where did this start, who gains if I believe it, and what do people who would know say?
• Apps learn what keeps your child watching and bring more of it, so a claim that seems to be everywhere may only be everywhere on one screen.
• Corrections travel slower than rumours, so teach children the tricks before they meet them and lead any correction with the accurate version.

Inside this bit

1. Two pictures that explain most of it

   If information evaluation feels like a subject with too many rules, hold on to two pictures instead. The first is the whisper game children play at parties.

2. Four myths that fool sensible families

   Four myths make intelligent people easier to fool. The first is that fake news looks fake.

3. Three questions that do most of the work

   You do not need a course. Three plain questions, asked in order, catch most of what matters.

4. Three tricky cases that fool careful people

   Once the basics are habits, three trickier cases remain. The first is a kernel of truth wrapped around a false conclusion.

5. Feeds, repetition and tired brains

   Some of what makes information hard to judge sits not in the message but in the system that delivers it. A video app behaves like a shop assistant who watches what you pick up and keeps bringing more of the same.

6. Teach the trick before the trap

   Two second-order facts shape everything a family can do. The first is that corrections travel more slowly than the claims they correct.