One of the best things you can do when you read something is to click links.

That’s it.

When an article makes a statement and has a link, just go ahead and click it and then start reading. Forcing myself to engage and research what I’m reading rather than passively consuming has had a lot of benefits.

First, it lets you prune out people or sources you read that may seem trustworthy on the surface but are citing absolute crap to support claims. A tiny proportion of people even read past the headline, let alone look at the sources. There are way too many writers who have figured out they can get away with citing shoddy evidence because they know they won’t get caught.

Second, reading more primary sources inoculates against a lot of lazy writing about “scientists say X”. You’ll quickly realize there’s a broad range of research credibility and rigor. Reading primary sources helps build up your ability to figure out where that source falls on the credibility spectrum.

Third, it’s just a good brain exercise. Force yourself to do hard things. Push back against the social media induced stupor of consumption. Reading dense primary sources forces you to put some effort into comprehending what you’re reading. Too much content online is written to require as little effort as possible. Put some mental reps in and get effortful reading back into your daily routine.