2. Double check claims before repeating them

3. Don’t share articles unless we’ve read them (i.e., not just because we like a headline)

4. Take a breather before responding when we feel angry (in person and on social media)

5. Remember that groups are purposely trying to feed us appealing disinformation (that exploits our preconceptions and biases), intending to create chaos

6. Read multiple news sources with differing perspectives

7. Go to the unedited video/text (whenever available) before jumping to conclusions about an event or person’s actions

8. Remember that the majority of the people we disagree with are not bad people, even if we think their policy positions are wrong and harmful

9. Recall that we can rarely validly generalize from one example, no matter how upsetting that example is

10. Condemn physical violence – it is not a solution to our problems, and it can make them rapidly spiral out of control

This piece was first written on November 3, 2020, and first appeared on this site on June 3, 2022.