There is an epidemic of fake advice on the internet.
The problem might be bigger and have a stronger impact than fake news.
A professor I work with talked about a strange attitude many of his lowest performing students had adopted; these were students that were at risk of dropping out of college.
“I’m going to be a neurosurgeon.”
“You can’t tell me that I won’t ________________.”
Several other professors have confirmed seeing this blind self-confidence spread in the last ten years.
At first blush, the statements above sound like evidence of a courageous, independent attitude. But the students are doing nothing to improve their situation. They aren’t working harder, exploring options, finding help, or putting more time in the library. They just “believe.”
And they believe that the belief is sufficient.
The origin of this new, pervasive attitude seems to be social media. There is a constant stream of “positivity,” and people making very good livings selling that “positivity.” In the past, the positivity was the sugar to help swallow the bitter medicine: negative, constructive feedback.
Now, the bitter medicine has been jettisoned and the advice is pure, addictive sugar.
Additionally, most of the advice has the structure of a pyramid scheme: the advice-givers give advice they want to be seen giving. The advice aimed at a popular audience sounds like prayers. (“Believe in yourself.” “If it is meant to be, it is meant to be.”) More “sophisticated” audiences are drawn in by snappy sounding statistics. (“80/20” rule is an example of decent, but fairly empty, advice. “The five chimps rule” is a good example of horrible advice.)
In fact, there is a shameful lack of good research into “life advice.” The little that is high quality gets hackneyed and misinterpreted. (The 10,000-hour rule and adopting a growth mindset are great examples.)
A problem is that the good life advice that has backing is not sexy at all:
- Be frugal.
- Choose a small group of loyal friends and be loyal to them.
- Work hard.
- Rest well.
- Understand that everything changes and the change is unpredictable.
One goal of The Mentor Scholar will be to popularize good, evidence-based advice.
To do that, it will be necessary to attack all of the fake advice out there.
I have created a trilemma to help inform the fight, illustrated above. The advice must involve at least 2 out of three. For example:
- If the advice is touting itself to be quick, it will be risky and effortful.
- If the advice is sold as effortless, it will take time and have a high chance of not working.
- If the advice is “guaranteed” to work, it will take effort and time.
#Fakeadvice.