It is incredibly important to train yourself to have your first instinct be to look something up.
Don’t know how to do something? Look it up.
See a piece of news mentioned on social media? Look it up.
Not sure if something is making it to the broader public consciousness, either because you don’t see it much or you see people saying nobody is talking about it? Look it up.
Don’t know what a word means? Look it up.
It will make you a better reader and a better writer, but it will also just make you more equipped to cope with the world.
So often, I see people talking about something as though it is the first time anyone has ever acknowledged it, when I’ve been reading reports about it on the news for months or years. Or I see someone totally misinterpreting an argument because they clearly don’t know what a word means–or, on the other hand, making an argument that doesn’t make sense because they aren’t using words the right way.
Look things up! Check the news (the real news, not random people on social media)! Do your research! You (and the world) will be better for it.
