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I admit it, I am addicted to social media. I read Threads, X, Facebook and even TruthSocial every day. It is a bad, frustrating and depressing habit.
There are those who say just ignore them, what is said does not matter in the real world. I wish that were true, but I think that widespread distribution of lies, and misinformation is very harmful to individuals and society. When I read an absolute falsehood about Social Security or Medicare and see hundreds of agreeing comments and thousands of likes, we have a problem in my opinion.
I’m not diving into the political world, but consider these current often repeated posts. I don’t know who or what generates them, or if misleading is intentional or extremely ignorant, but it’s there.
Did you know Social Security is a scam, only a Ponzi scheme or that Congress stole the trust fund money and never returned it. That the trust would be in fine shape if only ineligible people weren’t receiving benefits.
Hey, there is no reason seniors should have to pay for Part B of Medicare. “They” give us a minimal COLA and “they” raise the Part B premium and take it back” – as if there is a calculated plot against seniors rather than the changes set by law reflecting increasing costs.😱
If you are 65 or older, you “paid your dues” and should not have to pay any taxes. If you are retired, you should not pay property taxes once your house is paid-based on the widespread myth you don’t home your home if there is a mortgage. No consideration is given to how schools and community services will be funded.
Economists point out that property taxes are used because they are stable and don’t fluctuate with economic conditions unlike income or sales taxes and can quickly be adjusted. Property taxes have funded schools since around 1840.
There are those who believe income taxes can be eliminated and the government entirely funded with tariffs. The inadequacy, instability and unfairness of that revenue was demonstrated over a hundred years ago.
The drumbeat against taxes does not reflect what our taxes provide. There seems to be no connection between our roads, national parks, airports, safety-security, etc, and taxes. The anti-tax movement or perhaps more accurate anti-tax me paying taxes movement is not healthy IMO.
One subject that is over the top is healthcare and health in insurance. Millions of people seem convinced that premiums are high simply because the insurance companies are greedy and making excessive profits at their expense. The fact is premiums reflect the cost and use of healthcare. Insurer profits are limited by law and the profit margins are among the lowest in any industry – under 5%. The fact that growing income is driven by policy volume and not per policy premiums is ignored.
Or consider this post. “We pay into Medicare with every paycheck we receive during our lifetime. 40+ years of payments should guarantee us free healthcare at retirement.” The Medicare A trust is seriously underfunded and headed for insolvable. Must be the fault of “they.”🤑
It’s widely posted that Members of Congress have better/free healthcare than “the rest of us.” Actually, Congress must select a plan from a ACA exchange and pay a significant portion of the premium the same as all federal employees.
The examples go on and on and the ignorance and disregard for facts seems to be out of control. No wonder handling personal finances is a challenge for so many people. They use advice from social media. 🥵
I simply can’t get mired in the social media slop, I find it a bit sickening. Plus now I don’t trust most of it. More and more the stories are AI fake crap and the commenters could be some of that as well. There is no way I would ever engage in trying to debate with whatever that crap is. I have no time or mental space for the grievance mentality that comes through on social media.
Humble Dollar being a notable exception, I find there is a lot of nonsense on social media. Along with my observation that “Everyone is talking but no one is listening” if you will. Or at least many.
As a retired neurologist, I still get occasional medical questions from family and friends. While I try to keep abreast of new developments, I remind them that I am out of the loop. Between some medical claims posted on the internet and RFK Jr.’s public statements, I can understand why so many of them are frustrated and say to me: “I just don’t know who to trust any more”. So, I listen carefully to their question or concern, answer their question if I can, and advise them whom they should see if warranted.
As for whom to trust, always start with their primary care doctor or provider. He or she can also give valuable guidance where to go to learn more. And, read “The Death of Expertise” by Tom Nichols.
Anyone who is open minded and wishes to learn about a topic can sort the wheat from the chaff and find helpful information online. On the other hand, many are too influenced by confirmation bias, favoring those who tell them what they want to hear while ignoring or worse, disparaging those who tell them otherwise. For them, I have no answer.
I say the same thing by prefacing any medical advice I give by making it clear I have been retired for 5 years and things change constantly.
One problem is that there are so few people who think criticality about issues. Rush Limbaugh referred to the “low information voters”, of which there are many in both political parties.
I hereby declare, unequivocally, that Humble Dollar is not social media thereby allowing me to continue to enjoy the best financial community available. 🙂
I only use two social media sites. One is Facebook, allowing me to easily keep in contact with distant friends. The other social media site is HumbleDollar, for pretty much the same reason🙂.
I have turned off notifications on FB from anyone who posts things such as you have described.
Same here.
If we wanted to read that garbage we could. Why repost it here?
If you think you can change anyone’s mind by posting on those sites you’re free to do so, but it’s a huge waste of time.
I can’t understand why “they” put out lie after lie. Then I see a lie from my side of the aisle, making me realize “we” are no better than “they”.
And I know “they” are never going to convince me, and “we” are never going to convince “they”.
Still, it is so maddening that people are so susceptible to the lies.
It’s not a matter of reading it here, it’s a matter of understanding the environment that can lead to actions, perhaps highly undesirable actions affecting us all. The thing is, millions of people don’t see it as garbage, and that’s the problem.
If you choose to ignore the tone of parts of our society, be my guest. I prefer to correct false inform when possible even it only one person starts thinking on their own.
Dick, there’s a difference between being aware of the ignorance and ugliness out there… and immersing oneself in it. I too occasionally dive into the dirty end of the social media pool, but it’s not healthy for either mind or soul, and it would never have occurred to me to mine it for nuggets of idiocy and post them like a museum exhibit.
I had the same reaction to your post as mytime: Why?
Same answer I gave to mytime.
I’m not one for conspiracy theories, and I actually stay off social media entirely. But even from the outside, I have to wonder how much of our collective negativity is being manufactured. It feels less like organic frustration and more like the work of bad actors—specifically hostile states aiming to stir the pot.
I ignore the noise and stick to sound financial knowledge. I’m glad I joined this group to get other perspectives as I close in on my retirement journey.
Unfortunately that noise affects public perception and eventually public policy and perhaps our retirement journeys down the road. Repeated enough times false information becomes accepted at truth.
That noise will continue to grow exponentially and I would be surpised if you have changed a single opinion by posting on those sites. I can’t imagine spending hours wasting my time on those sites.