My cousin called me out for sharing a fake statistic about crime rates last week

We were at a family dinner and I mentioned how crime in our city had gone up 40% since 2020. I saw it in a viral post that hundreds of people shared. My cousin who works in data pulled out his phone and showed me the actual police numbers. The original source was some random blog that misread a chart. The real increase was like 4%. I felt dumb but now I double check any stat before I hit share. Has anyone else been burned by a bad stat that just felt true?

3 comments

3 Comments

williamw751d ago

That part about it "just feeling true" really hit me. I had the same thing happen with a stat about how many people leave their jobs because of bad managers. It was something like 80% and it just felt right because I hated my boss at the time. Turns out the real number from a legit survey was more like 30% and the rest left for money or moving. What worked for me was I started bookmarking the actual study or government report before I share anything. If I cant find the original source in two minutes I dont post it.

dylan_sanchez1d ago

That "two minute rule" is smart but man I dunno if I agree with going that far. Sometimes a stat like that 80% number is a good conversation starter even if its rough around the edges. Like if someone shares a bad boss stat and it gets people talking about toxic workplaces that's still useful even if the numbers a bit inflated. I think if youre in a casual chat not writing a research paper being a little loose with numbers is fine as long as youre not trying to pass it off as gospel. Just my two cents.

val_shah10h ago

The 30% vs 80% thing hit home hard. I actually had a period where I was sharing that exact 80% manager stat everywhere until I finally checked Gallup. Turns out it was closer to 50% but the real kicker was that the study only surveyed people who quit within the last year, not everyone who ever had a bad boss. Now I keep a little note in my phone of the actual sources for the few stats I use a lot so I can just paste them in. It slowed me down at first but now I feel way more trust from people in the replies.