Where you get your information matters greatly and is often an indicator of your mental health. I’ve been pondering this subject due to a few conversations which left me so dumbstruck I had to sit with the feelings they generated before I could write about them. 

I was talking with person #1, a highly intelligent Millennial, about a news incident that occurred several months ago. Not to wade too deeply into politics, but it was about Haitian immigrants stealing and eating pets in Springfield, Ohio. Their governor and all the credible news reports I found said it didn’t happen, but that this was a centuries-old trope meant to demean Haitians. Person #1 said he heard on social media it was true and was keeping an open mind about the possibility of it having happened.

In a conversation with person #2, a Gen Zer said she’d found a new skin regime but since she used it, her face had broken out, which was unusual. I asked if her dermatologist recommended the regime and she looked at me like I was crazy while responding that she’d seen a woman on Tik Tok promoting it. She told me she didn’t know the influencer’s credentials, but they had thousands of followers.

Person #3, a Boomer, and I were discussing how hair dyes could cause cancer. She said, “Oh, that’s just somebody’s opinion” and I countered that many scientific studies said it was true. She stuck to saying that’s just an opinion though I explained how studies are different than opinions and can take months, years or decades to produce findings and that science was our best shot, though not foolproof, at finding the truth.

So, back to my point about where you get your information and how you make up your mind about big and small matters. If you’re someone who eschews science and goes mostly to social media for all your answers, then you’re not getting the best information out there. All news sources aren’t equal. All opinions aren’t equal. Opinions aren’t facts.

Mental health includes being a rational thinker and using critical thinking skills. If you don’t know what that means, it’s time to learn about effective ways to gather and analyze information. Here are some blogs on rationality, thinking for yourself, reason, the need for rational thinking, and how to discern truth from falsehood. 

Seek out science when it comes to foods, supplements, and other health claims. Do some research. Google Scholar is full of scientific studies on just about every subject you can think of. Read the conclusions if you don’t want to read the entire study. Be curious, seek knowledge and practice rationality as a form of self care.

Best,

Karen