Yes, Staying Informed Is Hard

Re: The Great Social Media–News Collapse by Charlie Warzel (The Atlantic, also on Apple News)

It seems clear that distinguishing news from bullshit is hard too—so hard in fact that the so-called tech bro “geniuses” can’t even figure it out and have given up.

The “collapse of news” isn’t because good journalism went extinct (it didn’t) or that publishers have prioritized profit over everything else (they always have) or that social media failed us (it did, but not in that way).

It’s because citizens are disengaged.

If you are relying on “influencers” to stay informed about the world in which your entire life exists (or worse yet, are not informed at all) then

you

are

just

lazy.