0We’ve become a society where the truth is a "choose your own adventure" novel, and unfortunately, most people are choosing the chapter where lizard people run the local DMV. In the olden days, if you wanted to spread a ridiculous rumor, you had to get up on a literal soapbox in a park and look like a maniac, but nowadays, all you need is a Wi-Fi connection and a clickbait headline to convince half the internet that birds aren’t real or that kale actually tastes delicious.
Fake news isn’t just a "whoopsie" or a typo; it’s a high-performance business model that takes advantage of the fact that your brain is basically a dopamine-seeking missile. The goal is to make you so angry or smug that you click "Share" before you think about whether this is possible.
The "I’m Definitely Lying To You" Starter Pack:
The problem is not that we're "getting dumber," but that our brain is still running on Windows 95-level code that has not been updated since the invention of the wheel. We are hardwired for Confirmation Bias, which means that if we see something that confirms our existing hatred of a particular celebrity or politician, we get a hit of dopamine faster than a bartender can serve it up.
Fact-checking is boring, it's like homework, and we don't get a dopamine hit when we discover that our "enemy" is a good person, so we're just going to click on the lie anyway because it feels better than the truth.
If you don't want to be that guy who gets duped by a hoax and ends up being a total tool in the family group chat, try these totally non- lazy methods:
The Move
Effort Level
Why It Works
Check the "About Us" Page
Minimal
If the site lists its headquarters as a post office box in a place that doesn't exist on a map, run away.
The Reverse Image Search
Medium
Half of all fake news is just a picture from a disaster movie from 2012 that someone is using to describe a local thunderstorm.
Look to the Professionals
Medium
Sites like Snopes and FactCheck.org exist specifically to fight against people who are professional liars.
Actually Read the Article
Legendary
Most of the time, the text in the article has absolutely nothing to do with the actual clickbait headline.
Sharing fake news isn't harmless; it contributes to polarization and makes it impossible to talk about real issues without someone bringing up some conspiracy theory about 5G and Egyptian pyramids. Before you share that “unbelievable” story, take ten seconds to ask yourself if it’s, well, believable, because the internet is a dumpster fire and we don’t need your help to worsen it.
