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Able to drive around in a machine capable of carrying thousands of pounds.
Able to go experience food from around the world with little difficulty.
(Edited in)--Able to flush away your waste with water, NOT have it just build up and putrify somewhere, but be treated, cleaned and recycled.
Able to talk to people across the world in real time.
Even if it is expensive, the medical capacity we have in the first world is astounding.
We asked Professor Nolan about the key factors that indicate that a source or a claim made somewhere is most likely reliable. She was kind enough to shed some light on this.
"The best sources provide links to the original sources for the information they are sharing. This lets us check out the sources ourselves. If in doubt, click on those links," the expert from Seton Hall University told Bored Panda via email.
"Credible original sources should indicate the evidence behind the fact. Did it come from a study from a researcher linked to a university, medical center, or other established organization? Was the finding published in a scientific or medical journal?" she drew attention to some questions that everyone should be asking.
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"If the original source is a .com website, you should ask if the purpose of the site is to make money. Source websites that end in .edu, .gov, or .org don't necessarily mean that they are credible, but it's a good sign!" Nolan explained to us.
"Finally, trust your gut. If it sounds too good or weird or unlikely to be true, it may not be," she said that audiences shouldn't ignore their instincts about various claims made on the internet.
In the meantime, the psychology professor shared her thoughts on what people can do to reverse the trend of shortening attention spans. Screen time is key here.
"The best thing to do is to cut back on screentime. Try to be completely offline for an hour a day and maybe even build to one day a week," she said.
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"Go old school. Put your electronics out of arms reach and read a book or magazine on paper. Start training your brain not to expect to jump to something new every few minutes," the professor urged.
Nolan co-runs the 'Misinformation Desk' blog on Psychology Today and can also be found on X (formerly Twitter).
Studies have shown that our attention spans really are shrinking. Time reports that based on Gloria Mark's research, people could focus for around 2.5 minutes when using electronic devices before shifting their focus elsewhere. Now, the is down to around 47 seconds. Mark is a professor of informatics at the University of California, Irvine, and the author of 'Attention Span: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness and Productivity.'
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Lisa McLendon, Ph.D., the William Allen White Professor of Journalism and Mass Communications and the Bremner Editing Center Coordinator at the University of Kansas, previously explained to Bored Panda that legitimate news sources follow "a code of ethics and standards for journalism." For one, they don't publish rumors. They also verify information and correct errors.
"The New York Times, BBC, Reuters, Associated Press (AP), etc. are examples of this, and established local newspapers are too. One way to tell is whether other news outlets cite them. For example, AP picks up and distributes content from its members, and only legitimate news outlets are members of AP," Lendon told us earlier.
"But there are 'pink slime' news outlets that have popped up in the U.S. that look similar to legitimate newspapers but push highly biased and even incorrect information. Are they even located in your community? Are they trying to push a particular agenda while trying to appear that they aren’t? For health information, make sure it comes from a hospital or doctor who does not have a vested interest in selling you something."
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A big part of thriving in the digital age means knowing how to interact with the news, social media, and various sources. To put it very simply, you want to avoid falling prey to (and sharing) misinformation. And you want to limit the amount of time you spend in front of screens, especially when consuming negative content.
It helps to be a bit skeptical of any facts that you come across when browsing the internet. If something feels too good or bad to be true, it probably is. If you have the time, feel free to do some independent research. Cross-reference the facts using a wider range of sources, with different leanings. Consider the reliability of both the sources and the people making the claims, too. What’s their track record like? Are they looking at claims from a variety of perspectives or do they have a clear bias? Think about what the source might be trying to achieve here.
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There’s no source in the world that is going to be right about everything they write, 100% of the time. But the difference between a reliable source and an unreliable one is that the former will do their best to correct their mistakes. To err is to be human. To fact-check, edit, and admit to having made mistakes is to be divine… at least in the media industry.
The simple truth is that people are incredibly busy in this day and age. Not everyone has the time (or, let’s be honest, the energy) to check every single fact. So it becomes necessary to rely on sources based on their reputation.
Reading cool facts, discovering new topics, staying up to date with the news, and doing research is fun, sure. But it’s important to remember to take care of your physical and mental health first and foremost. If all you ever do is browse Reddit, scroll through Instagram, and binge-watch TikTok, you may want to shift your focus. Make sure that you’re getting plenty of sleep, eating right, getting lots of exercise, and spending time with awesome people. It’s easy to get lost in screens.
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Zippia claims that the average person living in the United States spends 7 hours and 4 minutes looking at screens every single day. (Over half of that involves staring at the phone.) That’s slightly higher than the global average for daily screen time of 6 hours and 58 minutes. Considering that some experts recommend less than 2 hours of screen time per day, most people around the world could stand to do better.
The problem is, however, screens have become vital to professional success, as well as communication, leisure, and entertainment. Many people need computers and phones to do their jobs. So it comes down to limiting our screen time after work hours. You could, for example, delete or hide the apps that eat up most of your time, or stop bringing your phone with you to the bathroom. A lot of the time, people check their phones because they’re bored and anxious, not because they’re on the hunt for some specific info.
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