Today, most of us spend much of our time being fed information: from books, websites, messages, TikTok.

But because we know so much, we probably also believe a lot more that is wrong. Lies get more views than truths. On XA social media network, formerly known as Twitter and owned by Elon Musk. , fake news stories are 70% more likely to be retweeted than true ones, and spread six times as fast.

What can we do about this flood of fake stories? One writer thinks we should change the way we think. Alex Edmans is a finance professor whose new book, May Contain Lies, promises to help us work out what is true and what is false.

Edmans thinks we believe misinformationIncorrect or misleading information unintentionally presented as fact. It can be contrasted with disinformation or deliberate lies. because we like hearing news that confirms our biasesBeliefs that systematically and unfairly distort a person's decisions, in favour or against one group or another. . When we find a fact that seems to confirm what we already believe to be true, we stop looking.

He gives an example from his own life: for years he repeated the claim that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert in something.

But when he actually looked at the data behind this claim it did not check out.

Can we train ourselves to be lie-detectors?

Yes! We cannot hope for a world in which no-one tells any lies. But we can train ourselves to think about what we hear and decide whether it is true or not.

No! You cannot possibly be an expert in anything. The average person cannot possibly do enough research to work out if everything they hear on social media is true or not.