Hook: Do you sometimes read conspiracy stories out of curiosity? I'm sure you do.

Most of
you probably look at them sceptically and without paying too much attention. But what about
people who don't have scepticism in them, and are happy to believe everything they see? This
is how people who have the rabbit hole syndrome behave.

1. What is rabbit hole syndrome?

It is a theory based on Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. In this book, Alice, seeing a
white rabbit in a waistcoat, follows him into his burrow without thinking for a moment how
she will get out. People with the syndrome act in the same way - catching their attention is
enough to base their whole life around conspiracy stories, start isolating, and stop trusting.
They can be sure that specific environments or people are lying or trying to hurt them, or be
ill-disposed towards the whole world. Consuming countless books and videos, joining like-
minded online communities, trying to convert those around them, and even, on occasion,
alienating their own friends and family- this is their life. Studies show that some people can
also get violent and become a danger to themselves or others.

2. How does it develop?

People do not enter the process intending or even expecting to develop a deep commitment to
conspiracy theories. Their attention, like Alice's, may be captured by something interesting or
appealing. Studies indicate that people may first be drawn in by the sheer entertainment value
of conspiracy theories or connections with a member of a community, which then serves as a
“gateway” to other conspiracy beliefs and a more generalized conspiracy worldview.
Importantly, people appear unable to detect how exposure to conspiracy theories changes their
beliefs and so may not notice what is happening to them in these early stages of Rabbit Hole
Syndrome.

3. Avoiding rabbit hole

The best way to save someone from a rabbit hole is to keep them from falling into it. People
can become better at critically evaluating information. When encountering a new claim, we
should try using the SIFT method = Stop, Investigate, Find, Trace. First step is stopping or
slowing down before following a new lead. Next - investigate the source of information;
check its overall reliability. Find trusted sources to help you assess a new claim. And Trace
the origin of the new claim. Following this approach helps you conduct a lateral search–rather
than moving down the rabbit hole, you widen your knowledge and sources to better assess the
claim’s reliability.
But when someone is far down a rabbit hole, critical thinking won’t be effective, because
people can use these same critical thinking skills to dismiss new information. The new
information won’t be consistent with their existing knowledge or the sources they trust, so it
won’t be worth theirs attention. So how can we save someone who is lost? Information
environment must be changed. When someone changes the basic flow of information, their
minds will follow.

4. Why is it so hard to break free from it?

 The believer thinks they're in a privileged position compared to those around them,
whom they consider to have been deceived, so they are not interested in taking advice
from them.
 People who are strongly committed to conspiracy theories are difficult to recruit as
research participants because they think that the researchers want to hurt them, so it’s
 difficult to provide them professional help. Also, that is why we have little information
about later stages of the rabbit hole syndrome.
 Some people want to satisfy their psychological needs by being a part of a community
like this. But, increased commitment to conspiracy theories can leave people feeling
even less certain, valued, and secure than they were before, drawing them still closer
to conspiracy theories, as a safe place.
 Important psychological needs may be eventually met by inclusion in a strongly
identified community, making their hold even stronger and harder to get out of. This is
due to the availability heuristic, through which we attribute more value to events that
are more easily recalled and emotionally charged.

Take home message: I want you to remember about verifying every information and thinking
critically. Who knows, maybe someday it will save you from falling into the rabbit hole?