Just like a surgeon and a scalpel that can save the life of an individual dying of a debilitating condition, data can bring us back from what seems like a near-life or (informational) death situation. Consider the COVID-19 pandemic and how much data has and is being used to develop safe and effective vaccines, monitor progress and stop over crowding of hospitals, and manage the availability of ventilators. But just like a scalpel in the hands of anyone other than a surgeon, data in the wrong hands can be quite dangerous.
The Miss-Informed Broadcaster
The first dangerous data-wielding person is the miss-informed broadcaster. You know the person, spewing misinformation everywhere they see. These are the people that read a sensationalized headline, perhaps even read the whole article, then they spew whatever sensationalized information they read. This is dangerous for many reasons, the first of which is that they believe the miss-information they are reading and broadcasting. This person reads sensationalized headlines about something of relative importance and they believe it themselves. This is what makes them convincing to other people because they are convinced of it themselves. The second reason that they are dangerous is because they don’t background check their sources. As mentioned, they read a sensationalized headline and they don’t bother to ask the critical questions of what they are reading. In some cases, they even get their information from another miss-informed broadcaster and they are not even getting it directly from a “source” (let alone a good source). The last reason (that I will mention) is that of trust. The miss-informed broadcaster is usually a trusted source by many, although they shouldn’t be, they usually gather a crowd of “followers” that take what they say as gospel. The miss-informed broadcaster spreads this miss-information and many say and do the wrong thing because of these miss-informed sources.
The Stat Spouting Know-it-All
The next dangerous data-wielding person is the individual who memorizes one stat and spews this every time they open their mouth. This is dangerous because it leads to the person as having more credibility than they should. Just because someone knows a single stat, metric, or otherwise numeric fact, doesn’t mean that they should be trusted… and yet many do. The reason this person is dangerous is because the stat is usually not indicative of the whole picture. It may be a percentage such as “83% of all statistics are made up on the pot”, this is dangerous because people see percentages and take them more seriously because they seem to be a normalized metric. It could also be a really large like “there are 8.3 billion dollars on unused gift cards”. This is dangerous because it is impossible to fact-check without a lot of work and is also vaguely believable for others. Other stats like “per capita”, “ratios”, and certain units of measure also have a tendency to be used by these types and lend to the danger. The problem with this is that, in the example of gift card dollars, they may cause individuals to stop using gift-cards which is a terrible idea, when in reality, it is important to educate individuals on how to properly make full use of gift cards. Granted that may not be life-threatening, except for when the stat is about something more vital
The Single Source Guru
A single source Guru is also a person that can dangerously use data. This person reads one article, blog, book, or other source and then uses that singular source to base all of their thoughts on a particular subject. This person usually has one source that they use for a wide variety of subjects and topics. This could be one blog site, news paper/site, or media outlet which is used as the expert on all subjects. This could also be that there is one article, story, or work that gets used per subject. This person is going to listen to only one source and take their perspective, facts, and assertions on a given subject. You may be able to recognize this person because they would say “I read an article in ___ on this and here are my thoughts”. They might say “you know, ___ has a really interesting perspective on this, I really like everything they have to say”. The danger here is that everyone has their biases, but, without checking these biases and looking into other sources to see if there are differing opinions, one will lean exactly with the slant of the singular source they are quoting.
Wielding Data Wisely
If you have been guilty of being any of these people or if you are guilty of being these people then here are a few things to consider when collecting your data. First of all, one to think critically about what they consume. Consider an opposite perspective on the subject and see if that holds up to scruitiny. Read critically also to see if the what’s being consumed is balanced, does it look at the subject from more than one side, and consider if there are a lot of extremes used. One should also be fact checking what they are reading from other sources. Reading from multiple news outlets or multiple articles to see if they coincide. In many cases the headlines will match and the key facts will match, but some of the smaller facts will not. When in doubt hold on to what is shared between multiple sources and set aside the smaller facts that are not shared. Think of your audience when sharing facts and data. In some cases, the individuals receiving the information can think critically on their own and therefore it is “safe” to share information. In other cases, individuals listening will take what’s being shared as 100% truth without applying the healthy filter of critical reasoning. When talking to these people, be sure that what is being presented is balanced and well thought out. Consider what outcomes or actions may be taken as a result of hearing what’s been said.
In all, data can be the thing that saves us while it can also be the thing that divides and destroys. Wield it with caution and be sure to do all that you can to spread good data to as many as possible and enrich the world around you with all that you know and can share.