Your relationship with information is one of the most important in your life. In the modern age, this relationship is under constant assault. Accurate and timely information is critically important to your happiness and well-being. Unreliable information is just another form of “Toxicity in the Digital Age.” You are covertly being harmed by this new toxicity in most areas of your life. In intellectual operating law number six, “Your Mind is Truth Seeking,” we learned that “truth is survival.” We are no longer navigating the hostile environments of our ancestors, yet this axiom still applies; truth is survival. Despite this revelation, we are surrounded by forces that are corrupting this vitally important commodity. Fake news, the information explosion, special interests, clickbait, information half-life, and the reproducibility crisis are making it increasingly more difficult to have a healthy and productive relationship with information.

Developing a sustainable connection with this new explosion of knowledge is not an easy undertaking. You can access all the world’s information in the palm of your hand and disseminate an idea internationally with the touch of a screen. You alone must determine the quality and the necessity of the information you consume. Are you ingesting junk food or are you on a sustainable, long-term diet of healthy and relevant information? While access to information has grown exponentially, the quality must be constantly and thoroughly vetted. Accuracy and relevance are critically important to every aspect of your life.