Research choice 1. Find mind-numbing, amazing, shocking info online.  Share with 100,000 social media friends.

Research choice 2. See mind-numbing, amazing, shocking info. Say sh**, really? Breathe. Get favorite beverage.

See if the product/view is pushed on a site that benefits from the info. Look up the person/group who numbed your mind to see if their background makes you nod sagely or shriek loudly. Check other pieces on the amazing, shocking thing. For medical, health or similar stuff, do free searches through Google Scholar, free online research databases through your local public or college library, or other yeah-you’ve-established-they’re-legit site to see if a study was done with logical methods and conclusions.  (Did they test a lot of people? Have a control group to compare results? Not conducted by Uncle Barry who lives in grandma’s basement and plays games on a 1990’s Nintendo when he’s not making stuff up?)

Though mind numbing and shocking info can be true, choice #2 often reveals it as exaggerated, misinterpreted, misrepresented, or a bunch of crapola.

If Annie Lennox tells you something, it’s probably true.