Do you believe that the internet and social media made it easier to manipulate you, and spread misinformation? Is there more misinformation today than in history? I argue the answer is no!
I think you're right. When I was young, the only way of hearing "unofficial" data was through various oddball organizations that met in big cities. Historical data was only available if you had access to a large college library. Even "unofficial" advice or training was hard to find. When I started work as a typesetter, I had to learn fast on the job. Good training films existed at the time, but I had no way to find them. Now I can just search Youtube and see what I missed.
My early childhood was actually spent in communism, but even as we exited the "communist party is the only source of truth or you die" phase, access to information was severely limited. Nowadays, the problem is remaining objective and learning to filter information, never trusting any one source, but at least you have easily available sources of different information, help, education... I will allow myself to call that progress.
I think you're right. When I was young, the only way of hearing "unofficial" data was through various oddball organizations that met in big cities. Historical data was only available if you had access to a large college library. Even "unofficial" advice or training was hard to find. When I started work as a typesetter, I had to learn fast on the job. Good training films existed at the time, but I had no way to find them. Now I can just search Youtube and see what I missed.
My early childhood was actually spent in communism, but even as we exited the "communist party is the only source of truth or you die" phase, access to information was severely limited. Nowadays, the problem is remaining objective and learning to filter information, never trusting any one source, but at least you have easily available sources of different information, help, education... I will allow myself to call that progress.