The ‘Factologys’ Instagram page was created in May 2019. Over the past few years, the curator of the account has grown the project to nearly 55k followers. According to the digital creator, all of the facts that they post on the account are “true and verified.”

They also encourage all social media users to send them a message with their own questions that they’d like answered. Whether about history, science, psychology, or anything else. 

CNN reports that people’s attention spans have taken a huge hit over the past two decades. Back in 2004, the average attention that people could focus on a screen was around 2.5 minutes. These days, it’s barely 47 seconds.

As we’ve explained on Bored Panda recently, the way that people consume the news has been changing quite a bit in recent years and decades. For one, folks read and watch the news from a far broader selection of sources and platforms than before. However, the downside is that there’s so much information that it has to be presented in small bits.

In the Digital Age, news and other outlets have adapted to this shortening attention span by writing catchy (and sometimes clickbaity) headlines. They also use images and different formats on different platforms to present the news in a fun, engaging, but brief manner. When everyone’s fighting over your attention, it becomes crucial that you stand out from the crowd without compromising the quality of the information. That might involve using photos, videos, cool graphics, quirky quizzes, or even maps alongside the text.

However, that doesn’t mean that long-form content has gone the way of the dodo. In-depth reporting and analyses still have their place in the world because not everything can be summarized into a punchy headline with a cool photo. And consuming the news this way helps lengthen your attention span.

It’s not just the format of the news that’s important. You have to know what sources you can rely on the most because, in this day and age, very few people have the time and energy to double-check every single claim in an article. 

According to the BBC, start off by checking who wrote the piece, and how reliable they are. Take a peek at the other articles they’ve worked on, and check for bias and (in)accuracy.

In the meantime, try to rely on more than just one source for your news. Though it feels wonderful to have our worldview affirmed by an outlet, this can lead to a very warped perspective on global events. It’s usually a good idea to read a variety of sources.

Another good idea is to check where the outlet got its news from. The odds are that if a claim sounds too outlandish or your gut tells you that something is off, it’s too good (or bad!) to be true. It’s often a bad idea to blindly trust any single source. Especially if the facts it shares appear iffy and wobbly. On the flip side, information that is sourced from experts, eyewitnesses, and officials is more reliable. 

The most reliable sources will have a very strong code of ethics, and high journalistic standards, and will employ fact-checkers and good editors. They’ll also avoid publishing unverified rumors and will always own up to any mistakes that they correct. Some of the most reliable and unbiased news sources include The New York Times, the BBC, Reuters, and the Associated Press. 

Everyone tends to have at least some biases. So it helps if we’re aware of our own political, cultural, and ideological leanings. If you encounter a source that confirms all of your opinions without offering a broader, more nuanced perspective, you should probably read a few more sources. Life is rarely black and white; there are lots of shades of gray to consider.