Our fully connected world has brought profound changes in how we consume and communicate information. Our new information ecosystem is turbo charging some of humanity’s worst impulses and we are being overwhelmed with an excessive amount of toxic information. The following are a few of the impacts that disinformation is having on our everyday lives.

Flooding of Information

We are receiving an endless amount of information each day that we cannot even begin to process and digest. The flooding of information is drowning us in an overloaded information swimming pool.

Blurred Lens of the World

The veil of anonymity is making it difficult to receive information that is factual, relevant, and accurate. Social media algorithms can artificially boost information and make it hard for us to tell the difference between a scholarly article and a miracle cure.

A Susceptible Society

Today’s society is easily influenced by what they see and hear on Social Media platforms. This makes individuals extremely vulnerable to disinformation and forming misguided and harmful opinions.

Inability to Form Judgements

The volume of disinformation makes it challenging for individuals to know what to believe. The decline of traditional news sources and the hyperfocus on platforms makes it changing to make informed and confident judgements on our world.

Confirmation Bias

When we encounter information that confirms our existing belief systems we tend to gravitate towards this and process the information more easily. Therefore, disinformation is often enforcing these confirmation biases and we are not encountering information that may actually challenge what we currently believe.