Fight for the Frontline by Fighting Back against the “Infodemic”
by Lindsey Leininger, Ph.D., MA
“But mom, you’re a DATA doctor not a PEOPLE doctor?!”
I sympathize with my kids’ curiosity about what possible role their laptop-wielding mom might have to play during the Coronavirus. But I also know that this battle is mine, too, as I watch the voices of physicians and scientists being drowned out by darker forces across the information ecosystem.
I enjoy a wonderful career teaching people how to think about health care data: policymakers, physicians, and business leaders (current and future). I know that misinformation badly compromises the ability of clinicians to do their job properly by priming fear and science-denialism in their patients and the broader population. And it’s a horrible blow to morale.
The good news is that everyone can fight back against the misinformation fueling the “infodemic” raging alongside the current epidemic. At the heart of the task is differentiating SOLID versus SENSATIONAL news, which can be done using three simple tips that I playfully refer to as “Lindsey’s Laws.”
Lindsey’s Laws for Smart Information Consumption
(1) Demand extraordinary vetting for extraordinary claims;
(2) Proactively seek out competing views;
(3) Amplify good information, and cut off the oxygen to the toxic stuff.
First: In the words of the late, great astronomer Carl Sagan “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” If a finding is way out of the mainstream and/or sounds too good or bad to be true it’s important to make sure that the corroborating evidence is air-tight and replicated. Indeed, REPLICATION IS THE HEART OF GOOD SCIENCE and we scientists demand lots of it before a finding becomes widely accepted.
Second: Another key tenet of science is ACTIVELY SEEKING OUT ALTERNATE HYPOTHESES. We scientists obsessively seek out evidence that can refute or “falsify” our research. And we demand this of other scientists, too! Abraham Lincoln was another advocate for this approach, famously assembling a “team of rivals” to ensure he was hearing competing viewpoints.
Third: The best defense against misinformation is a good offense – FOCUS ON AMPLIFYING THE GOOD info rather than tearing down the bad. Pushing out the good stuff improves the information ecosystem, while overly focusing on the bad (even in the spirit of rebuttal!) can inadvertently have a “backfire effect,” keeping it in the news cycle.
By practicing good information hygiene we can all contribute to the mission and the morale of the frontline. I hope you’ll join me in the fight!
Parts of this article first appeared on the “Dear Pandemic” Facebook page, an evidence-based advice column run by Those Nerdy Girls, a team of female public-health scientists.