Lack of Information in the Information Age

By Dom Nozzi

I consider myself to be relatively well-informed on current events, yet when a neighbor told me yesterday he tested positive and I should consider getting tested, it occurred to me that I have no idea how to get tested (and I’ve read countless articles about COVID over the past year or so).

I am also extremely befuddled about the best ways to sign up for vaccination.

If someone like me is so clueless on this, it is scary to think about how many others out there probably have far less knowledge about COVID and vaccines.

My befuddlement exemplifies how pathetic the US has become regarding its ability to inform citizens of important information.

I think a big part of the problem today is that with the internet and TV service providing an almost infinite number of (conflicting) media sources with wildly different levels of accuracy and coverage, our hyper-information age is, ironically, much worse in many ways in conveying information to people.

Consider, say, the Sixties, when pretty much everyone got information from a tiny number of sources: the local newspaper, and one of three TV networks. Today, we get information from tens of thousands of sources.

And yet in many ways, we know less than citizens in the Sixties.