The internet is rife with lies, manipulations, and misinformation. The damage and mistrust caused by this downpour of falsehoods is unsettling, to say the least.
The Reliability Deep Dive is a tool to help you evaluate the credibility of information you encounter and the sources you regularly turn to.
This chart is split into 3 sections:
- Shallow: examination should be applied to any piece of information you come across. This is about examining the quality and message of the piece in front of you. Is it trying to persuade or inform you? Is it a breaking update or vetted analysis?
- Deeper: questioning is great whenever possible, but especially with any content influencing your opinions on key topics. (Key topics are the ones that fundamentally shape your worldview + day to day, like your approach to health, politics, the environment, relationships, parenting, major world events etc.) This requires a bit more sleuthing behind the scenes. In a couple minutes you can look into who’s behind this information, what makes them worth listening to, and if there is any credible support.
- Deep: investigation is the most valuable when assessing the people and outlets you regularly turn to for information. Think specific news shows or sites, podcasts, social accounts, etc. Here we encourage following the money to uncover any sort of hidden agendas you may be consuming or unethical players you may be supporting.
Truly reliable information is that which has been vetted at the deepest levels. But it’s impossible to examine every single bit of content so rigorously. This is why we believe it’s best to rely on a limited, well-rounded list of sources, as opposed to letting the internet at large shape your opinions and world view.
How to use:
- Isolate a specific piece of content.
- Go through the 3 levels of questioning, from Shallow to Deep Go to the Deeper level for content that covers a topic that’s important to you. Go to Deepest if this content is from an information source that you regularly turn to.
- Disregard content riddled with CAUTIONS. Prioritize content with all or mostly GOOD SIGNS.
Benefits:
- Makes evaluating content credibility simpler and more methodical
- Helps you avoid misinformation
- Helps you establish a vetted list of reliable resources
- Instills positive critical thinking skills