2 Tips to Pick Out Credibility
The health and fitness space is full of people putting out all sorts of information. You spend enough time scrolling and you’ll realize that a lot of the information conflicts with each other. For many people, this can leave you confused and frustrated on who to believe. Well, fear not: here are two thought processes you can deploy to figure out who is giving out the actually true information.
Look at the background of the person making the claim
Often times when we see a doctor make a nutrition claim on Instagram, it can be easy to believe it because they are a doctor. Although, what happens when you keep scrolling and see someone else who is a doctor make a claim opposite to what you previously saw. In that case who do we believe? Well, look into which one’s educational background is more in line within the field of the claims being made.
To illustrate what I mean by this, imagine that you click on the profiles of each doctor. You then see that what has a PhD in nutritional sciences and the other is a medical doctor specializing in psychiatry. Now, if the claim being made is a nutrition claim, then it is clear whose content is likely more reliable.
This is an important concept to keep in mind when digesting educational content on social media. Many people will claim they know better in multiple different fields of information because they are a “doctor” or “expert” or some other high-level assertion. It is important to understand that being an expert means that you are an expert in a very narrow field of information. In our previous example, if the psychiatrist was making a claim about mental health, then they would likely be a very good source to learn from. However, it can be dangerous when one strays to far from their field of education and claims to know better about concepts outside of their field because of their title.
Find the general consensus of what experts say
What if another day you are scrolling social media and you find two people with educations in relevant fields saying opposite things. Clearly the strategy mentioned before won’t work here, so what now? Well, if you found two people posting about this topic, odds are there are loads more. If you went and found 10 total social media accounts of people who are experts in this narrow field, you’ll likely find 8-9 of them say one thing and 1-2 of them say another. In this case you can probably see which side is likely true.
The real lesson here is that some turds just don’t flush. Sometimes, people with extensive education will put out information that is just not in line with the research. I believe there are two main reasons for this. The first would be giving them the benefit of the doubt: meaning that although the information put out by some may be wrong, they may actually have good intentions and think what they are preaching is right. Sometimes, people just end up interpreting data differently and that can lead to debate among experts in the field. The second reason would be assuming that some have a more malicious intent with spreading misinformation. By this I mean that they are intentionally spreading information that is untrue with an ulterior motive in mind, normally that is to make a profit. In the realm of health, nutrition, and fitness, the true and honest path to your goals normally involves simple steps that require consistency over a long period of time; which can be pretty hard work at times. However, consistency and simplicity can be hard points to sell. Where if you can overcomplicate everything, confuse your seller, make them believe you know it all, and then promise some magic diet, exercise, or supplement; that can be a much more glamorous sale.
