Because of the internet
The internet optimizes for content that stands out. In this case, the internet refers to Facebook, Google, Twitter, etc and their ranking/relevance algorithms. This makes it harder to learn about a particular topic: how it’s like to live in San Francisco, side effects for a particular OTC drug, or in my specific case, the risks around corrective vision surgery.
With evolution, it’s easy to conflate optimizing reproductive fitness with survivability. But these two are not the same - bright peacock feathers improve reproductive fitness but are more noticeable for predators. Similarly, content online that is engaging isn’t necessarily true or accurate.
There are a few other factors that make this worse:
Incentives and legitimacy: it can be useful to refer to expert opinions, but there may be misaligned incentives (e.g. product expert claiming product A is best that has an advertising deal with product A). I prefer Reddit or other pseudonymous forums for this exact reason. At the end of the day, what you want is a variety of sources with good explanations.
But also, most of what you read on the internet is written by insane people.
The internet writing “discount rate”: this idea is based on the fact that most people aren’t actively writing on Twitter, Reddit, and other forums. A polarizing experience makes it much more likely for someone to write a review. And so does direct incentives (e.g. write a good review and get 10% off). For every bad review or extraordinarily great review, there is likely a much larger number of people that have had mediocre experiences. This ratio is the discount rate. It’s important to account for this when you are researching on the internet.
The anchoring effect: the most salient reviews you read can really leave an impression, especially if it’s on a topic that you don’t have a prior opinion on. Once you form an opinion, similar to a habit, it takes a lot more work to pull you in the other direction. This is where the cliche: first impressions matter comes from. Even though you can be aware of this and related cognitive biases, it doesn’t make you less susceptible to them. In fact, it can actually make it more paralyzing.
It’s still so incredible that the internet is readily available for anyone to use. Aside from your time and effort, there is no marginal cost to load a new webpage.
But the obvious problem that is starting to appear is the lack of a reliable source of truth - a prime example is the quality of information regarding the pandemic that has been relayed between different “expert” sources. Maybe the solution is better tooling to browse the web with, or maybe an all encompassing crypto oracle.