As we have seen, lateral-reading can be a good technique for becoming more critical of the information you receive before potentially sharing it further. In addition to counteracting the common tendency to engage with and perhaps delve deeply into a presentation of the matter, lateral-reading also helps against biases and weaknesses that exist in all of us as recipients.

We are all stupid and idiots (at least part of the time)

I boka Dumhet, idioti og dumme idioter¹ (Stupidity, Idiocy, and Stupid Idiots), Lars Svendsen, a professor of philosophy at UiB, points out two personal biases we all have to a greater or lesser degree. We are stupid to the extent that we do not think for ourselves but uncritically accept conventions and whatever else is sent our way as gospel truth. Although it is practical not to question everything, this thoughtlessness can make us overconfident — even in matters where we have no basis for it. Furthermore, we are also idiots to the extent that we rely too much on our own thinking and do not consider the opinions of others. In these cases, we miss out both on the opportunity to correct our own thinking errors and to test our judgments against others' perspectives.

We live in a media landscape where it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between what is real and what is fake. It is therefore important to be critical of the information we receive, but at the same time, there is a risk that we end up treating credible and questionable sources with the same skepticism.

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