In the old days, a liberal and a conservative (a “dove” and a “hawk, ” say) got their data from one of three nightly news programs, a local paper, and a handful of national magazines, and were thus starting with the same basic facts (even if those facts were questionable, limited, or erroneous). Now each of us constructs a custom informational universe, wittingly (we choose to go to the sources that uphold our existing beliefs and thus flatter us) or unwittingly (our app algorithms do the driving for us). The data we get this way, pre-imprinted with spin and mythos, are intensely one-dimensional. George Saunders
About This Quote

Today, people are inundated by new information. We have access to more information than ever before, but the quality of that information is often questionable. Some of this new information is simply inaccurate or incomplete. As a result, many of us form our own ideas about the world based on what we read on social media sites, listen to on the radio, and watch on television. This can make it difficult to separate fact from fiction when making decisions based on the information we are presented with.

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