What happened to rational thinking?

With the internet and the incredible access to information we have now you'd think people would be better informed about what's true, what's myth, etc.

But instead it seems like the opposite is going on. Conspiracy theories run rampant. People repeat what they hear without question. It's really discouraging.

Everyone operates with their particular filters on what they see and hear and only take in what aligns with their point of view. You can now form your own echo chamber in a moment, and cherry pick the kind of news and opinion you want to hear without that much effort.

The internet has now turned information into sound bites (or text bytes?) more than television ever did. And so catchy and provocative phrases win the day over factual nuanced information. It feels like we're getting less thoughtful as a culture, and more and more knee-jerk instead.

I've watched educated, smart people take local isolated observations and assume they apply to the nation as a whole. I've seen others who should know better, who I thought were educated about the use of the scientific method support a hypothesis selecting only information that supported that hypothesis rather than considering all available information. I've seen statistics selectively applied on small numbers and used to puff up a point. Context no longer matters.

People may worry about the economy, and a host of other immediate concerns, but I think the real threat to this country is a lack of a solid education in evaluating information. We've been trained too well to just be consumers rather than thinkers.