THE ATTENTION ECONOMY

Let's consume media better.

Being aware of the content we take in can make all the difference.

For almost 50 years, the media industry in America has shifted away from trying to appeal to the broadest audience and towards trying to grab our attention with sensationalized content. The good news is that we don't have to give in to the hype.

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Go beyond the headline or soundbite.

This applies to videos, articles, social media posts, and countless other types of media. The details and context of a story or event usually show that it's less dramatic than the hook makes it sound.

The title, featured clip, first sentence of a post, etc. are there to hook you in, and they're usually the most sensationalized part of a piece of content.

Get news from a variety of sources.

This is especially important for political news. The same stories will be covered differently by different people, based on the motives and biases of the person telling the story. When you only consider one news source or one political ideology, you only get the version chosen by that outlet or individual.

By getting news from multiple places, you get to take in more details and decide what you believe, instead of having someone decide for you.

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Scrutinize the sources.

Ask lots of questions about the sources of the stories you hear on news and social media. Is the source named? Are they talking about something they witnessed firsthand? Does their statement line up with other witnesses? Is the account disputed by others involved? Do they have proof to support them? Have you actually seen that proof with your own personal eyeballs?

You can't always accept a claim as fact just because "people are saying" it. Look hard at the sources of a story and see if they have the receipts to back it up.

Opinion segments are not the same as news.

First things first, we're not saying you can't take in opinion content. But it is important to remember that the goal of opinion pieces is to support one side of an issue. The person presenting their ideas might not include important information if it doesn't support their claims.

Because opinion segments are intended to convince you of a specific argument, you're only going to hear the ideas that support that argument, instead of all of the facts.

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Learn about the events before you seek out opinions or analysis about it.

Opinions and news analysis can be really helpful to understand how an event will impact our lives. But if we start with an opinion already in mind, it's going to affect how we absorb the facts and details of a story. We may also miss out on key details that an opinion writer or host may not want to address.

Learning about the events first lets you develop your own opinion about a story before being influenced by someone else's take.

Get as much context as you can.

Too many media outlets edit down a video or pull one sentence out of an interview to get the biggest reaction or to make it fit their story or argument. When someone uses a single sentence or detail out of context, it can easily be distorted to look like something that it's not. The shorter the text or video clip, the easier it is to manipulate its meaning.

When a piece of media uses a single sentence or detail out of context, be careful that the piece of information is being used in a way that doesn't distort its original meaning.

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Look at the firsthand information.

Is congress holding a hearing? You can watch or listen to them for free on CSPAN, YouTube, and others. Were documents released in a court case? The PDFs are often available online. You don't need to do this 100% of the time, but reviewing the sources yourself will usually give you a more honest take on the information. And checking whether the reality matches up with what's being said shows you which public figures are telling the truth.

Instead of getting a summary from a TV personality or politician, you can get the clearest picture of an event by looking directly at the sources yourself.

Maintain a healthy skepticism.

Opinions and news analysis can be really helpful to understand how a news story will impact our lives, but if we start with an opinion already in mind, it's likely going to affect how we perceive the story. Our confirmation bias makes us more likely to view the story through that opinion, even if we wouldn't have seen it that way otherwise.

Learning about the events first lets you develop your own opinion about a story before being influenced by someone else's take.

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TL;DR

Go beyond the headline or soundbite.
Get your news from a variety of places.
Scrutinize the sources.
Remember that opinion segments are not the same as news.
Look for the facts of the story before you get opinions on it.
Get as much context as you can.
Look at the firsthand sources yourself whenever possible.
Maintain a healthy skepticism.

TL;DR