How do you know what to believe anymore? In this episode of Intentional Living, Mari breaks down why dramatic, false information spreads faster and farther than accurate information online — and it's not your imagination, it's documented research.

Drawing on a landmark MIT study published in Science analyzing over 4.5 million tweets, current data from Pew Research and the Knight Foundation on how much misinformation people encounter and even knowingly share, Stanford researcher Sam Wineburg's research on "lateral reading" (the specific habit that separates professional fact-checkers from everyone else), and Cambridge psychologist Sander van der Linden's research proving misinformation resistance is a trainable skill, Mari makes the case that overwhelm, reflexive cynicism, and confusion about AI-generated content are really the same missing skill wearing three different outfits.

Walk away with three tools: how to verify a claim in under two minutes, how to check whether a claimed credential (or even a claimed human) is real, and how to use your own emotional reaction as an early warning system before you share.

• Vosoughi, S., Roy, D., & Aral, S. (2018). The spread of true and false news online. Science.
• Wineburg, S., & McGrew, S. (2019). Lateral reading and the nature of expertise. Teachers College Record.
• van der Linden, S., et al. (2017). Inoculating against misinformation. Science.
• Pew Research Center (2023) and Knight Foundation (2022) misinformation survey data.

Relevant Prior Episodes

• Episode 11 — social media and comparison research, a different angle on the same general subject

Is your age stopping you — or is it just an old, unwritten rule you never bothered to question? In this episode of Intentional Living, Mari breaks down the internalized "social clock" that quietly decides, without anyone saying a word, what's appropriate to wear, try, or attempt at a given age. Drawing on Yale psychologist Becca Levy's landmark research showing people with positive self-perceptions of aging live an average of 7.5 years longer than those with negative ones, sociologist Bernice Neugarten's foundational concept of the social clock, and real, documented examples of women who achieved major things later in life — including a marathon runner who set a Guinness World Record at 86, and an author who published her first book at 65 — Mari makes the case that most of the rules about age-appropriate behavior were never actually real rules at all. Walk away with three tools for tracing the actual source of an "I'm too old for that" thought, building your own evidence file of counter-examples, and testing the rule with a small, reversible action instead of accepting it at face value.

• Levy, B. R., et al. (2002). Longevity increased by positive self-perceptions of aging. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
• Neugarten, B. L., et al. (1965). Age norms, age constraints, and adult socialization. American Journal of Sociology.
• Guinness World Records — Gladys Burrill, oldest female marathon finisher.

Relevant Prior Episodes

• Episode 11 — "whose standard is this" — the social clock is the same mechanism
• Episode 13 — "stop waiting for the right time" — "I'm too old" as a specific flavor of that trap

Is your perfectionism stopping you? Not slowing you down a little — actually stopping you, from launching the business, sending the email, starting the hobby, finishing the book. In this episode of Really, Universe?, Mari breaks down why perfectionism rarely announces itself as a problem — it shows up dressed as high standards and dedication, while quietly running the show like an unpaid, judgmental intern. Drawing on Hewitt and Flett's foundational research distinguishing self-oriented, other-oriented, and socially prescribed perfectionism, recent research linking procrastination specifically to the socially prescribed type, and the distinction between adaptive perfectionistic strivings and fear-driven perfectionistic concerns, Mari makes the case that high standards were never the actual problem. Fear wearing a standard's clothing is. Walk away with three tools: how to name the specific audience you're actually performing for, how to build a "minimum viable version" of anything (borrowed straight from