Mark Satta, Wayne State University

An endless flow of information is coming at us constantly: It might be an article a friend shared on Facebook with a sensational headline or wrong information about the spread of the coronavirus. It could even be a call from a relative wanting to talk about a political issue.

All this information may leave many of us feeling as though we have no energy to engage.

As a philosopher who studies knowledge-sharing practices, I call this experience “epistemic exhaustion.” The term “epistemic” comes from the Greek word episteme, often translated as “knowledge.” So epistemic exhaustion is more of a knowledge-related exhaustion.

It is not knowledge itself that tires out many of us. Rather, it is the process of trying to gain or share knowledge under challenging circumstances.

Currently, there are at least three common sources that, from my perspective, are leading to such exhaustion. But there are also ways to deal with them.

1. Uncertainty

For many, this year has been full of uncertainty. In particular, the coronavirus pandemic has generated uncertainty about health, about best practices and about the future.

At the same time, Americans have faced uncertainty about the U.S. presidential election: first due to delayed results and now over questions about a peaceful transition of power.

Experiencing uncertainty can stress most of us out. People tend to prefer the planned and the predictable. Figures from 17th-century French philosopher René Descartes to 20th-century Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein have recognized the significance of having certainty in our lives.

With information so readily available, people may be checking news sites or social media in hopes of finding answers. But often, people are instead greeted with more reminders of uncertainty.

2. Polarization

Political polarization is stressing many Americans out.

As political scientist Lilliana Mason notes in her book, “Uncivil Disagreement: How Politics Became Our Identity,” Americans have been increasingly dividing politically “into two partisan teams.”

Many writers have discussed the negative effects of polarization, such as how it can damage democracy. But discussions about the harms of polarization often overlook the toll polarization takes on our ability to gain and share knowledge.

That can happen in at least two ways.

First, as philosopher Kevin Vallier has argued, there is a “causal feedback loop” between polarization and distrust. In other words, polarization and distrust fuel one another. Such a cycle can leave people feeling unsure whom to trust or what to believe.

Second, polarization can lead to competing narratives because in a deeply polarized society, as studies show, we can lose common ground and tend to have less agreement.

For those inclined to take the views of others seriously, this can create additional cognitive work. And when the issues are heated or sensitive, this can create additional stress and emotional burdens, such as sadness over damaged friendships or anger over partisan rhetoric.

3. Misinformation

Viral misinformation is everywhere. This includes political propaganda in the United States and around the world.

People are also inundated with advertising and misleading messaging from private corporations, what philosophers Cailin O’Connor and James Owen Weatherall have called “industrial propaganda.” And in 2020, the public is also dealing with misinformation about COVID-19.

As chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov put it: “The point of modern propaganda isn’t only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth.”

Misinformation is often exhausting by design. For example, a video that went viral, “Plandemic,” featured a large number of false claims about COVID-19 in rapid succession. This flooding of misinformation in rapid succession, a tactic known as a Gish gallop, makes it challenging and time-consuming for fact checkers to refute the many falsehoods following one after another.

What to do?

With all this uncertainty, polarization and misinformation, feeling tired is understandable. But there are things one can do.

The American Psychological Association suggests coping with uncertainty through activities like limiting news consumption and focusing on things in one’s control. Another option is to work on becoming more comfortable with uncertainty through practices such as meditation and the cultivation of mindfulness.

To deal with polarization, consider communicating with the goal of creating empathetic understanding rather than “winning.” Philosopher Michael Hannon describes empathetic understanding as “the ability to take up another person’s perspective.”

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As for limiting the spread of misinformation: Share only those news stories that you’ve read and verified. And you can prioritize outlets that meet high ethical journalistic or fact-checking standards.

These solutions are limited and imperfect, but that’s all right. Part of resisting epistemic exhaustion is learning to live with with the limited and imperfect. No one has time to vet all the headlines, correct all the misinformation or gain all the relevant knowledge. To deny this is to set oneself up for exhaustion.

Mark Satta, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Wayne State University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Business networking is the process of establishing a mutually beneficial relationship with other business people and potential clients and/or customers. The primary purpose of business networking is to tell others about your business and hopefully turn them into customers.
~ Susan Ward

There are several social networks online, like Facebook and Twitter. However, it might be more practical to do business networking offline, especially for small businesses. Finding out where you can do this is as simple as typing “where to find local business networking opportunities” into Google. You can also check with local municipality offices, Employment Insurance offices, and even local colleges. All of these may have events or workshops you can attend. Some may be free, others may charge a small token which helps them pay for the meeting room, coffee, etc.

A couple of places online that could come in handy are meetup.com and alignable.com.

For meetup.com you would have to do a search for what is close to you. I was in Edmonton, Alberta, so a quick search of meetup.com pulled up the Edmonton Business Network. Its description describes it as:

Each month we host business networking events that give you an opportunity to meet top local business owners, entrepreneurs and business professionals. We also hold inexpensive, high quality seminars and training sessions where you can learn new tactics, tools and techniques. Topics address just about every aspect of owning and growing a business: online marketing, personal development, social media, sales, networking, raising capital, crowd sourcing, branding, search engine optimization, web design and more. Group membership is free.

Alignable describes itself as:

With more than 3 million members and millions of connections across more than 30,000 local communities, Alignable is an online network where small business owners across North America drive leads and prospects, generate referrals, land new business, build trusted relationships, and share great advice.

Once you sign up it’s easy to connect with other small business owners in your town, city or area.

Of course, if you’re new to business, you can learn a lot of information. The first time I went to one of these was sponsored by Employment Insurance in 2003. We met for 6-8 weeks. My little business was already making me a steady income, but I didn’t have a clue how to run a business. This gave me the opportunity to learn about things like registering a business, and deciding what kind of business I wanted to register. It taught me about business taxes and bookkeeping, working with accountants — what I could claim and what I couldn’t — and gave a general overview of marketing.

To attend these meetings you always need to make sure you’re carrying some business cards with you and a Rolodex business card book. As you meet people other participants you can exchange business cards. You can jot notes on the back of them, most of the time, and then slide them into your wallet. You can use them to call some of these people later. Even if it’s likely they won’t become customers, they can certainly save you in other ways.

If your business picks up and you need to hire someone, call some of the people you met and ask them if they know of anyone. There’s a good chance they do. Not only could you get a good recommendation for someone to call, you’ve renewed your acquaintance and your name is once again, fresh in his or her mind.

What if you need work done to your home to accommodate the business? Call some of the people in the network and ask for advice on who to hire. Or, for that matter, there might have been a contractor in your group.

You might feel like you’re alone, but with a network you’ll discover you have people. It’s just not possible to build a business without people. Soon you’ll start to learn the power of relationships and communication. It will make it so much easier when you’re looking for suppliers, vendors, employees, tax advice and almost anything else you might need.

Likewise, by staying in contact, there’s a good chance your name and business will get referred to people they know who could use what you’re selling. You’ll discover that having a professional network is much different than asking your friends and family for advice, and especially so, if they have never operated a business.