Click Restraint: Crash Course Navigating Digital Information #9

Summary

In this Crash Course episode, John Green explores the challenge of practicing patience in the digital age, particularly when seeking information. He introduces 'click restraint' as a method to combat the urge to impulsively click on the first search result. Green explains that search engines are not infallible and are influenced by human factors. He advises viewers to scan search results critically, using strategies like lateral reading and examining snippets to discern reliable sources. The episode emphasizes the importance of discernment in navigating the vast, often misleading information landscape of the internet.

Takeaways

• 🍕 Patience is a skill that is often difficult for humans, especially in the context of seeking information online.
• 🌐 The internet's architecture encourages impatience, with a constant stream of new content that can detract from thorough reading and understanding.
• 🔍 Click restraint is a valuable skill to develop for more effective online information gathering, which involves not immediately clicking on the first search result.
• 🕵️‍♂️ Fact checkers exemplify click restraint by thoroughly scanning search results, considering their credibility, and making informed decisions about which links to follow.
• 🤖 Search engines are not infallible and are influenced by human decisions and biases, which shape the algorithms that determine search results.
• 🔑 Understanding the concept of 'relevance' in search engine results is crucial; a page's ranking is not necessarily an indicator of its trustworthiness.
• 🔗 The number of high-quality links to a site is one factor search engines use to determine the quality and ranking of search results.
• 📈 Search engine optimization (SEO) is a strategy used by content creators to improve their site's visibility in search results.
• 👀 Lateral reading involves scanning multiple search results, using snippets and URLs to gauge content before deciding which links to open.
• 🚫 Not all search results are created equal; it's important to辨别 sources and recognize satire or unreliable content to find accurate information.

Q & A

What is the main skill discussed in the Crash Course video that can help improve our information consumption habits?

The main skill discussed is 'click restraint,' which involves not immediately clicking the first search result and instead scanning and evaluating multiple results before making an informed decision.

Why is it important to practice click restraint according to the video?

Practicing click restraint is important because it helps avoid falling into the trap of impatience and encourages a more thoughtful approach to information consumption, leading to better evaluation of sources and content.

What role do search engines play in shaping our information consumption habits as described in the video?

Search engines play a significant role by sorting and presenting information based on complex algorithms influenced by human factors. They shape our habits by suggesting which links to click based on relevance and quality metrics.

How do fact checkers differ from the average person in their approach to search results, as mentioned in the video?

Fact checkers differ by practicing click restraint, spending more time on search results, and often scrolling through multiple pages to evaluate the most promising sources before clicking.

What is the significance of the 'Golden Gate Bridge' example used in the video to explain search engine algorithms?

The 'Golden Gate Bridge' example illustrates how search engines might rank a page as relevant due to the frequency of the search term on the page, such as the official website appearing high in results because it mentions the term multiple times.

What is the potential conflict of interest mentioned in the video regarding the funding of the series?

The potential conflict of interest is that the series is funded in part by Google, a search company, which viewed the final scripts but did not write or edit them. The content was developed by the Stanford History Education Group.

How do search engine algorithms generally determine the quality of a website, according to the video?

Search engine algorithms determine the quality of a website based on various factors, including how many other high-quality sites link to it and the relevance of the content to the search query.

What is the term for the practice where web content creators try to ensure their websites appear higher in search results?

The term for this practice is 'search engine optimization' (SEO), where creators use techniques like including keywords and obtaining backlinks to improve their site's ranking.

What are some strategies suggested in the video for improving search results beyond just using the first page?

Strategies include using quotation marks to search for an exact phrase, using the 'site:' modifier to limit results to a specific domain, and using the minus sign to exclude certain words or websites from results.

What is the role of lateral reading in the process of evaluating search results, as discussed in the video?

Lateral reading involves opening a few search results in new tabs to quickly scan and compare the information, which can help in making a more informed decision about which sources to trust and read in depth.

How does the video use the example of 'China buying Walmart' to demonstrate the importance of evaluating search results?

The video uses the example to show how evaluating search results can reveal the difference between a satirical site and reliable sources, emphasizing the need to check the credibility of information before accepting it as true.

Outlines

00:00

🔍 The Challenge of Click Restraint

John Green introduces the concept of 'click restraint' in the context of navigating digital information. He uses the analogy of eating hot pizza to illustrate the impatience humans often exhibit when seeking information online. Green discusses how the internet's architecture, with its constant stream of new content, conditions users to be impatient, leading to bad habits in information consumption. He emphasizes the importance of breaking this cycle and practicing patience when searching for reliable information, suggesting that fact checkers exemplify this by thoroughly scanning search results before clicking.

05:00

🌐 Understanding Search Engines and Their Flaws

Green explains how search engines work, noting that they are not infallible and are influenced by human factors. He mentions that search results are sorted based on algorithms that consider relevance and site quality, which are determined by factors like keyword frequency and the number of high-quality backlinks. Green also highlights the role of human raters in assessing website quality and the practice of search engine optimization (SEO) by content creators to improve their visibility in search results. He warns that the order of search results can mislead users into perceiving higher-ranked sites as more trustworthy, which is not always accurate.

10:04

🛠 Practicing Click Restraint and Search Strategies

John Green provides practical advice on how to practice click restraint and improve online search strategies. He suggests not immediately clicking on the first search result but instead scanning titles, URLs, and snippets to assess the credibility and relevance of sources. Green also recommends using lateral reading by opening multiple tabs to compare information. He demonstrates this process with a hypothetical search about China buying Walmart, guiding viewers through evaluating search results and identifying reliable sources. Green concludes with additional search tips, such as using quotation marks for exact phrases, the 'site:' modifier to limit results to a specific domain, and the '-' operator to exclude certain terms or sites from results.

Keywords

💡Click restraint

Click restraint refers to the practice of not immediately clicking on the first search result or link that appears, but rather taking the time to evaluate and choose among multiple options. In the video, it is presented as a skill to help break the habit of impatience when searching for information online. The narrator explains that fact checkers use click restraint to scan results and make informed decisions about which websites to visit first, which contrasts with the common behavior of hastily clicking the first link out of impatience.

💡Fact checkers

Fact checkers are individuals who professionally verify the accuracy of statements, often in media and online content. They debunk myths and confirm facts. In the context of the video, fact checkers are highlighted as exemplars of click restraint, spending more time on search results to ensure they are accessing reliable information, rather than quickly clicking on the most convenient or eye-catching link.

💡Search engine optimization (SEO)

Search engine optimization is the practice of improving a website's visibility in search engine results, often by using specific keywords and strategies to rank higher. The video discusses how web content creators use SEO to try to ensure their websites appear higher in search results, which can influence users to click on their links due to their perceived higher ranking.

💡Algorithms

Algorithms are sets of rules or operations that a computer follows to perform a task, such as sorting search engine results. The video explains that search engines use algorithms, which are created by humans, to determine the order of search results. It emphasizes that these algorithms are not objective and are influenced by human decisions, which can affect the reliability and relevance of the information presented to users.

💡Reliable sources

Reliable sources are those that provide accurate, trustworthy, and authoritative information. The video stresses the importance of finding multiple reliable sources when conducting a search, rather than just multiple sources. It contrasts the need for reliability with the vast amount of information available online, highlighting the challenge of discerning trustworthy content.

💡Lateral reading

Lateral reading is a strategy of opening multiple search results in new tabs or windows to compare and evaluate the information presented. The video suggests this technique as part of practicing click restraint, allowing users to scan various sources and make a more informed decision about which to read in depth.

💡Snippets

Snippets are the short descriptions or text excerpts that appear below search result titles, providing a preview of the webpage's content. The video instructs viewers to scan these snippets to get a sense of what information is available before deciding which link to click, as they can offer hints about the relevance and nature of the content.

💡Satirical sites

Satirical sites are those that publish humorous or ironic content, often mimicking news articles but not intended to provide factual information. The video uses the example of a satirical site claiming that China bought Walmart to illustrate the importance of evaluating the credibility of sources and not just accepting information at face value.

💡Search engine results page (SERP)

A search engine results page (SERP) is the page displayed by a search engine in response to a query. The video discusses how users often only look at the first page of SERPs, but practicing click restraint involves considering results beyond the first page, where more reliable and diverse information might be found.

💡Trustworthiness

Trustworthiness in the context of the video refers to the credibility and reliability of information sources. It is emphasized that the order of search results does not necessarily indicate trustworthiness, and users should evaluate sources critically, rather than assuming that higher-ranked results are more trustworthy.

💡Impatience

Impatience is portrayed in the video as a common behavior when searching for information online, where users quickly click on the first available link due to eagerness or lack of patience. The video advocates for patience as a skill to develop, especially in the context of information consumption, to avoid falling into the trap of misinformation or unreliable sources.

Highlights

The importance of patience, especially in the context of seeking information online.

The analogy of eating hot pizza to illustrate the impatience in consuming information quickly.

The challenge of being patient when information is abundant and constantly updated on the internet.

The concept of 'click restraint' as a skill to counteract the habit of impatient information consumption.

The role of search engines in shaping our information consumption habits.

The difference between finding multiple sources and finding multiple reliable sources.

The practice of fact checkers to scroll through search results for thoroughness.

The influence of human fallibility on search engine algorithms.

The potential conflict of interest with Google's funding of the series.

How search engines rank search results based on relevance and site quality.

The role of backlinks in determining the quality of a website according to search engines.

The practice of search engine optimization (SEO) by web content creators.

The misconception that search results order indicates trustworthiness.

The strategy of not immediately clicking the first search result, known as 'click restraint'.

The technique of scanning result titles, URLs, and snippets to assess search results.

The concept of 'lateral reading' to open multiple search results in new tabs for comparison.

The example of using quotation marks for precise search results.

The use of the 'site:' modifier to limit search results to a specific domain.

The tip to use the minus sign to exclude certain words or websites from search results.

The reminder that there is no magic bullet for finding unimpeachable information online.

Transcripts

Hi, I’m John Green and this is Crash Course, Navigating Digital Information.

So you know when you take a slice of pizza out of the microwave and it’s extremely hot?

But you’re so hungry that you decide to just fight through the pain and take a bite anyway.

Whereupon you confirm that you’re basically eating hot lava and now your tongue is burnt,

and also you couldn’t even really taste the pizza so you put it back down for like

10 seconds, blow on it, and then try again.

And then you continue that cycle until your meal is actually cool enough to eat but by

then of course have no more taste buds.

Right. What I’m saying is that patience is a hard-earned skill for humans, especially when you’re

really hungry.

And on the Internet, I at least am hungry for information basically all the time.

I want to know about the news stories I care about so much that I will scroll through endless

posts and wikipedia edits and even god help me youtube comments looking for more information,

and when I am done getting all the known information about that story, I will scroll through endless

speculation while I wait for more facts to come out, because I am incredibly bad at being patient.

But also, the architecture of the social internet tells you not to be patient--it tells you

that if you load more tweets or see more posts, there will always be something new, something

that could be very important, and the ubiquity of newness can make it difficult for us to

read an entire article that was published yesterday because uggg that is literally so yesterday.

So instead maybe I should just read the headline and then see if there’s anything new on

facebook, which there always is, and then I’m scrolling and scrolling and ENOUGH.

Approaching the Internet this way has left me with a lot of bad habits that don’t actually

help me find the answers I’m looking for.

So today we’re going to learn a skill to help break that bad habit of impatience called

click restraint.

INTRO

During this series so far, we’ve talked a lot about what to do when encountering new

information online like before believing and sharing, we need to find out who is behind

the information and what evidence there is for their claims.

We also want to find out what other sources say.

One of the strengths of the Internet is that there are always more sources, so if you’re

not sure about a claim, or you can’t decide whether a source is reliable, then you should

try to find another reliable source.

But often, the problem actually isn’t finding multiple sources to corroborate or verify

claims--because there are many, many, many sources for almost anything.

Like, if you search for “Flat Earth Theory,” you will get like seven million results debating

whether the Earth is flat, and it would take you a lifetime to look through the all.

That’s not a challenge, by the way.

Don’t do that.

You have but one wild and precious life, my friends.

Spend it knowing that the Earth is roughly spherical.

My point is that understanding information is not about finding multiple sources; it’s

about finding multiple reliable sources when conducting a search.

It’s about learning what expertise is and when to trust it.

But when many of us search the Internet, we pick from among the top two search engine

results even though there might be literally millions of results to choose from.

But researchers from the Stanford History Education Group found that fact checkers,

who confirm facts and debunk myths for a living, spend more time on search results than like

everyone else does.

They typically scroll through the entire first page of search results, and sometimes even

check the second or third page, as they decide what looks most promising.

And they practice what researchers call click restraint.

Instead of immediately clicking the first thing they see, fact checkers /restrain/ themselves.

They scan results to check out their options, get a sense of what sources are available

and what information is on offer, and then, based on what they’re looking for, make

informed decisions about which websites to visit first.

So obviously there’s, you know, a lot of content to sift through on the Internet, and

a search engine’s job is to sort all of that for you, but search engines don’t just

like arrive on the web fully-formed.

There is no search engine stork dropping them on Silicon Valley doorsteps.

Humans create and manage search engines, so the results they produce via complex algorithms

are not somehow separate from human fallibility.

Algorithms are human products just as much as this table is a human product, and this

physical representation of a virtual representation of a physical flower is a human product.

What I’m saying is that algorithms are not objective.

There's always going to a degree of human influence, even if that degree is supposed

to be small.

Now before we go any further, I want to highlight a potential conflict of interest here.

This series is funded in part by a grant from Google, which is a search company.

As part of the grant, they viewed final scripts of these videos, but they did not write or

edit them.

The content of these videos was developed by the Stanford History Education Group, not

google, but I think it’s important to reiterate here that Google did help fund the series.

Having said that search engines like Google are profoundly fallible and they are subject

to human influences, and they are shaped both by the people who work on those search engines

and also by the people who use them.

So when you enter a keyword into any search engine, it doesn’t spit out a list of sources

ranked by trustworthiness.

Instead they sort links based on a variety of factors using an algorithm -- a set of

rules or operations a computer follows to complete a task.

And those algorithms, to reiterate, are created by people.

Now, the exact algorithms search engines use are secret -- that’s why they remain in

business.

But roughly -- and I mean roughly -- they didn’t like tell us any secrets, Google

returns results based on (1) How relevant it thinks a page will be to what you searched

for and (2) The quality of the site, based on Google’s

own definition of quality.

A page might be relevant to your search if it contains multiple instances of the keyword

you searched.

Like, if you search “Golden Gate Bridge” it may surface the official website of the

Golden Gate Bridge because it says Golden Gate Bridge like 12,000 times in key places,

like the page title.

Quality is a bit more difficult to nail down.

One parameter search engines use is how many other sites link to a result, and whether

those sites are of high quality.

Some search companies also pay individuals around the world to rate the quality of the

pages it finds in search, which...is google hiring?

Because I would love that job!

I feel like I would be good at it because I spend a lot of time on the Internet and

I have very strong opinions.

Google raters do follow a set of guidelines of course.

We’ll link to them in the video description.

But also search results aren’t a one-way street.

Like web content creators know roughly how to try to ensure their websites appear higher

in search results.

This is called search engine optimization.

To use a basic example, keywords are important to search results, so if you make a site about

doggos and puppers but most people are searching for dogs and puppies, you’d be better off

including dogs and puppies in the title.

And since linking to other sites can impact search results, some creators even create

websites to link to their websites.

Now, that’s considered spam but it’s still very common.

Why?

Because many of us click those first couple links of a search result, getting your site

into those spots can be extremely valuable.

And research has shown that students interpret the order of search results as an indicator

of trustworthiness.

As I already mentioned, that’s not actually the case, but it benefits a website to appear

trustworthy… or a YouTube channel for that matter.

Okay, so the first step of click restraint is /not clicking./ Alright?

Take a deep breath.

Count to ten.

Or, I don’t know.

It’s the Internet.

Count to three.

Send your friend a search time selfie…

I don’t…

whatever you have to do to not instantly click the first link of your search results.

Then scan the result titles and URLs of that first page of results..

Are there names of major news organizations or blogs you’ve never heard of?

From the title you can also sometimes tell whether a page is

a news article, or if it’s presenting an opinion, an op-ed

piece, or if it’s just like irrelevant to your search.

Next you should scan the snippets below each title.

The text under the URL will hint at the webpage’s content.

This alone could point you towards the information you’re looking for.

Once you’ve compared these results you can try some lateral reading by opening a couple

results in new tabs.

You know what.

Let’s just try out this whole process in the Thought Bubble.

Okay, my friend told me that the Chinese government is buying Walmart.

I had not heard anything about that, so I decided to Google it.

I typed in “did China buy Walmart.”

And here are the results.

The first is called “China Buys Walmart, Will Rebrand as GreatWallMart” and it’s

from thefinaledition.com.

Now I’ve never heard of The Final Edition, and that pun does sound too good to be true.

On the other hand the first three words are, “China Buys Walmart”.

A few results down I see stories from Forbes and Business Insider, two business websites,

suggesting that the Walton family that owns Walmart has been selling its shares.

The seventh result is Walmart’s own website,

then comes its Wikipedia page,

and a CNN article about Walmart buying a stake in a Chinese retailer from two years ago.

From this group of results, Walmart’s own website is probably the best place to start.

While I wouldn’t always trust a company’s website to tell its own story impartially,

I do think they probably know who their owners are.

The company page explains how the Walton family came to own Walmart.

And then in 2016, they teamed up with Chinese e-commerce company JD.com to form what they

called a strategic alliance.

Actually, if we go back to that CNN story, we can confirm that Walmart bought a 5% stake

in JD.com.

So, no, China did not buy Walmart, but the retailer did do business with a major Chinese company.

Just for kicks, let’s go back to that first Google result about the GreatWallMart

since that was the only source that even hinted at China buying Walmart.

The link leads to a page that looks like a news article,

but when I find the About page for the Final Edition,

it explains that it’s a satirical site that “aims to be the #1 humor experience on the Internet."

Definitely not a reliable source of news.

Good thing I didn’t just click that first link.

Thanks, Thought Bubble.

So obviously not all search results will bring up a clear juxtaposition of true news sites,

satirical onex, and primary source information.

If you’re not finding the kind of results you need when conducting a search, I do have

some tips:

First, put the phrase you’re searching for in quotation marks.

That way a search engine will only look for those words in that order.

And if you want to limit your results to one website domain, add site, colon, then the

domain name as in site: youtube.com You can even try site: .edu to search websites sponsored

by educational institutions.

To eliminate certain words or websites from your search, include a minus sign before the

phrase like searching for Wall Street Journal -site:wsj.com will give you results about

the Wall Street Journal but none of them from the Journal’s own website.

Search engines may be something we use everyday, and we might even know some of these tricks,

but that doesn’t make them foolproof.

As we’ve noted many times before, when it comes to evaluating information, there just

is no magic bullet.

No single path will get you to unimpeachable information.

Dare I say you might even want to try the second page or beyond!

Next time, we’ll bring this miniseries to a close with the second joke I know, and we’ll

tackle the great white whale of the contemporary Internet--your social media feed.

I'll see you then.