“Technology” is more than any particular tool. Fundamentally, technology is the tendencies and values of our particular tools. The tendencies and values of our particular tools include things like efficiency, extraction, productivity, progress, metrics, and results.
“Technology” is more than any particular tool. Fundamentally, technology is the tendencies and values of our particular tools. The tendencies and values of our particular tools include things like efficiency, extraction, productivity, progress, metrics, and results.
What do you think—are literate people only becoming more valuable, or are they trying to justify their own interests? Trying to slap away a tidal wave that is coming for all of us? What would you encourage a confused teenager to study right now—how would you promote literacy in their field of interest?
Learn the posted definitions of “typographical culture,” “entertainment culture,” and “the medium is the message,” and use them to help you define our final term—what kind of “culture” are we moving into in the Age of AI?
In this latest installment, we look at three rules of thumb I like to follow in my media consumption, and a few quick recommendations for good long-form media: 1) If it came via short-form—video clip, social media post, tweet, etc.—be skeptical, look deeper; 2) If I don’t know much about it, resist the pressure to have an opinion; and 3) If I want to know, default to long-form media sources that provide perspective and context….
In this latest installment, we take a look in the mirror to discuss epistemic humility: a fancy way of saying that someone is not self-righteous, not dogmatic, not dismissive, not rigid, but instead knows they could be wrong, stays open to new evidence and better arguments, and holds their beliefs lightly, because they know there’s a good chance they’re going to be wrong a lot.
“Journalism” is not some universal and unchanging ideal, sometimes reverently called “the 4th estate” because it theoretically sits outside the three branches of government in order to hold them accountable.
But in fact there are many “journalisms,” and “the media” in which they work has come to us through many historically contingent iterations that could be described as byproducts of the technology, business, and politics of their time, and but for a few accidents of timing could look totally different than they do today.
If your only move after hearing a claim is to look into the source of that claim, you might be guilty of a version of this absurd scenario: you’re fact-checking the mailman, not the person making the claims the mailman is merely delivering. You’re fact-checking the information distributor, not the information manufacturer.
Polarization in the United States seems obvious—but what explains it, and is it as bad as we think? Perhaps understanding some of the mechanisms behind (1) polarization and (2) the perception of polarization can help us engage with today’s media in an informed and productive way.
When reading articles online, always ask: Is this outlet trying harder to inform the audience or promote a point of view? In the following example, most of the evidence supports “promote a point of view…”
If you use social media, this one’s a must: check out The Noisy Room, an interactive essay on the quiet social media majority from Tobias Rose-Stockwell, an author whose book, The Outrage Machine—How Tech Amplifies Discontent, Disrupts Democracy―And What We Can Do About It, is featured multiple times in our course on Media Literacy.
Note the expression, pay attention. You should take this pretty literally. The cost of taking in new information is the attention you have to pay to process that information.
Like paying three dollars for a caffeinated drink, you’re paying three seconds or three minutes or three hours for some bit of information. So the question you have to ask yourself is this: Is it worth it? Since attention is finite—the class will end, the day will end, the year will end, even life will end—is the thing you’re paying attention to worth the time you’re giving it?
Socrates famously worried about the invention of writing for the way it would change what it means to know something. If Socrates was worried about moving from an oral culture to a literary culture, an analogous concern today might be about moving from a literary culture to a culture of image and video.
“The real problem of humanity is the following: we have paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and god-like technology.” E.O. Wilson, sociobiologist The embedded claim is that our emotional and psychological lives are not keeping pace with our technological development; our psychologies are still climbing out of an ancient period of human development, but our tech is not.
To be literate with the media, we have to be honest about our own limits and vulnerabilities. Perhaps we spend too much time pointlessly confusing ourselves with random bits of information from strangers. Or we’re unduly influenced by emotional language and images. Perhaps we’re easily flattered. Or we’re only motivated to find support for what we already think. Maybe we’re cynical about everyone with expertise, or, conversely, have too much confidence in our own small information networks.
In 1983 Stanislav Petrov’s decision to “corroborate” the information his computer was giving him may have averted nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union. Petrov was the lieutenant colonel on duty at a Soviet command center responsible for monitoring Soviet early-warning satellites. When his computer told him the U.S. had just launched 5 intercontinental ballistic missiles that would make landfall in under 25 minutes, he had almost no time to react carefully….
The Nomadic Professor’s 2026 Media Literacy Challenge: Read Smarter Online! Twice a month throughout 2026, America’s 250th anniversary year, we’ll share one small skill to help you read better online—social media, YouTube, podcasts, newsletters, forums, magazines, journals, newspapers, and everything between. Challenge #1 is Lateral reading: learning about the source before read from the source.
Nomadic Professor teaches history as method, not ideology: build knowledge, then master bias, evidence, and context to judge competing narratives with confidence.
How do we explore history without choosing sides? In tackling various angles of the contested narratives surrounding Alaska’s past, this course challenges simplistic, one-sided interpretations. The History of Alaska: America’s Last Frontier? dives into the complexity of indigenous land rights, colonization, and competing perspectives—encouraging learners to move beyond black-and-white storytelling. Discover a curriculum that takes the past seriously on its own terms. Learn more at Nomadic Professor.
Recently, we received another question from a parent considering our courses for her children. After sharing a belief that God stands at the forefront of the historical events that have shaped the United States, the question was roughly as follows: Do your courses center God? Here’s Nate Noorlander’s reply on behalf of The Nomadic Professor: […]
We received the following question this week from someone considering our courses for her son. As it’s an excellent (and recurring) question, we’re glad to have received her permission to share it here: We’re excited to have found your courses as we head into home educating our son for high school. We’re trying to be […]
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