Every year during the odd period between Christmas and the New Year when no one knows what day it is, I, like many others, spend that time reflecting on the year closing and considering the one about to begin. Aside from the more personal and professional changes I made this year, my big focus for 2022 was attempting to better embody the behaviours I believe can lead us to a saner, wiser, and more tolerant world.

In the last 24 hours, somewhat surprisingly, I’ve seen plenty of commentary on my social media timelines in different threads about the British people's supposed ‘unwillingness’ to fight austerity and oppression.

This is the third and final article in a short series on cleaning up the information environment. Part one can be found here, How to Fight Information Pollution, and part two here, How to Identify Your Cognitive Biases & Allergies. This one focuses on identifying unwitting (or witting) culture warriors parroting tribal narratives in the wild and online:

This essay is the second in a short series about taking personal responsibility for improving the quality of the content circulating in the information environment. In essay one, ‘How to Fight Information Pollution’, we considered methods we can adopt to help ensure the information we share is integral and truthful. This second essay focuses on a process to help us gain greater awareness of our individual cognitive biases and allergies.

In this age of polarisation, disinformation and fake news, never before has it been so important that we carefully and thoughtfully evaluate the information we consume before we share it. I think of it as fighting “information pollution”.