We All Need Oxygen

One non-disputable truth that we may all agree on as humans is that we all need oxygen.

To breathe. To live. To thrive. We all need oxygen.

This is one truth that regardless of any other belief that we as humans may or may not believe, we can universally agree to. We all need oxygen.

As I think about this, I imagine how we would respond if the clean oxygen that we breathe was suddenly contaminated with a toxic gas that was making us and our children sick. We’d respond. We’d react. We would do whatever was necessary to provide ourselves, and our loved ones, with clean air.

So what if we imagined that the information that we consume is oxygen, as clean air. While the misinformation and disinformation that we consume is a toxic gas that is polluting our oxygen. Should we remove the contaminate? Should we respond? Should we stop the pollution that is making us and our loved ones sick?

I spend a lot of time studying the behavior of people, specifically their ability to accept a truth that may challenge their systems of belief or knowledge. Neuroscience tells us that the more information that we receive that doesn’t fit our system of truth or belief, the more resistant we become to that information. Interesting, yeah? We might imagine that if we were presented with the truth through data, we would accept that information and potentially even change our minds based on the new information. To make this possible, we have to set an intention.

As we lean into the year ahead, where both the EU and the US will host pivotal elections, I invite you to challenge your concept of what is true and what is false. I challenge you to consider whether you’re breathing in fresh, clean oxygen (truthful information) or whether you’re breathing in contaminated, toxic pollution (disinformation).

For more on the threat of disinformation, check out this brief from the American Security Project.

To better understand how we contribute to information pollution, scope out this article by the World Economic Forum.

Discover how social media rewards misinformation in this read by Yale Research.

Image credit: Maxim Hopman on Unsplash