Scientists show how ‘doing your own research’ leads to believing conspiracies — This effect arises because of the quality of information churned out by Google’s search engine::Researchers found that people searching misinformation online risk falling into “data voids” that increase belief in conspiracies.
You look at multiple sources and on some level need to have a broader education, at least through high school, so you understand what you’re looking at. So many things that you learn aren’t immediately useful in every day life, but can still have a broader impact in how you assess the world around you. A great example is any kind of higher math like calculus. Most people aren’t going to need calculus day to day to get around the world, but understanding integrals, derivatives, sets, summation, and so on allows for different connections to form in your brain and helps you learn to analyze the world around you. Learning a new language that isn’t common in your area might not be helpful day to day, but you’ll subconsciously pick up a lot of insights that affect how you view the world.