The University Of Google: How The Internet Turned Everyone Into An ‘Expert’

The information age continuously shows us its pros and cons. Everyone has access to information, which is great for curiosity and thirst for knowledge. But everyone having access to information has seemingly caused a false sense of expertise for some users. In turn, we’re experiencing a huge devaluation of expertise and education.

Today’s Data. Tomorrow’s Agenda.

Have you ever been speaking on a subject or topic that is in your area of expertise, and someone who has nowhere near the amount of information you have tried to correct you? Same. Here’s my story.

I typically don’t break the fourth wall in this column, but this is an opportunity to shed light on a real issue. For context, I received my bachelor’s degree in Human Development and Family Science. During my undergraduate career, I had a keen interest in domestic violence and its impact on vulnerable women.

One day, I am speaking with someone about this exact subject. I rattle off a couple of statistics related to how hard it is for victims to leave these situations. The unnamed person said, “It’s not hard to walk out the door and start over. Women do it every day.” The statement itself wasn’t shocking, as I’ve heard it many times. However, I still take the chance to educate this person. While doing so, I was asked, “And what makes you an expert?”

To clarify, I knew this person, and they knew my educational background, so they didn’t get the ignorance pass. As I tried to explain that I have written several papers on the subject and taken classes about dangerous familial situations.

But still, they said, “that doesn’t make you an expert.”

While I may not be Dr. Phil, the late nights, several cups of coffee, and cramped fingers that went into researching for and writing the papers make me well-versed on the topic.

Because of the nonstop access to information, people can easily have their questions or curiosities answered. However, reading an article or two does not an expert make. It barely makes someone a novice when compared to those who have spent over 10 years actually studying a topic.

Social media has been an amazing place for the marketplace of ideas. Everyone having access to several others’ thoughts has brought about some lively discussions. The actual experts have a platform to share their research and results with a larger audience, without a paywall. Because of this, some may feel that, since the information is on social media, it is up for debate. Not to mention, it is hard to tell who is actually an expert. Anyone can say they have a PhD.

All of these things combined make for a wrongful devaluation of expertise. We’ve gone from people having rightful access to the internet and information to people wearing the invisible cloak of mastery. Unfortunately, a medical doctor’s informational video takes up the same amount of space as your favorite vegan influencer’s hot take. It takes a lot of work to verify information, so people may take both videos as fact or one instead of the other.

Somehow, we have got to get back to a time when higher education was respected. With the rise of AI, the rigor of education may be questioned as students are responsible for less and less of the hard work. But society as a whole has to accept that access to facts and information is not the same thing as processing, understanding, comprehending, and applying facts and information. You can buy the ingredients for the cake, but that doesn’t mean the cake is ready to eat when you get home.

Research suggests that women in professional settings are consistently met with higher levels of skepticism and are forced to provide more evidence to prove their competence than their male counterparts. This is known as Prove-It-Again bias, a phenomenon documented by the Center for WorkLife Law, where women’s successes are often discounted as luck while their mistakes are remembered longer than those of their male peers.

For a woman, a degree isn’t just a piece of paper; it’s a shield. Yet, even when we hold that shield up, the TikTok Scholar in the comments section feels entitled to poke holes in it. We see this in what women have coined “Mansplaining,” where expertise is treated as a suggestion rather than a fact. According to the Dunning-Kruger effect, people with limited competence in a domain often overestimate their own abilities. When you overlay this psychological bias with gender, you get a toxic mix: men who have done “their own research” (which is usually just a Google search), feeling emboldened to correct women who have done the actual labor.

The real danger of the illusion of mastery is that it turns life-and-death facts into opinions and vibes. When people devalue the decade of study it takes to understand a subject, they aren’t just being annoying in conversation; they are ignoring the truth.

Confirmation bias allows the uncredentialed to find the one outlier article that agrees with their preconceived notion while ignoring the 99% of expert consensus. This is especially prevalent in wellness spaces, where influencers bypass scientific facts for aesthetic marketing. If you wouldn’t perform your own root canal after watching a YouTube tutorial, why are you trying to outsource the experts on social policy or medical science?

We have to stop treating “I feel like” as a valid rebuttal to “the data shows.” Expertise isn’t elitism; it’s labor. It is the result of thousands of hours of research, peer review, effort, and the humility to know what you don’t know. As we navigate an era of AI-generated summaries and TikTok diplomas, let’s value education again. Access to information is a gift, but the processing and application of that information is a craft.

The essential resources and mobilization tools you need to stay ahead of the current workforce shift.

In a world where everyone has a megaphone, your expertise is your most valuable asset. Here is how to navigate the illusion of mastery while maintaining your professional authority:

1. Don’t Audition For The Uninformed: When met with a TikTok scholar who questions your background, remember that you do not owe them an itemized receipt of your education. You know your worth and don’t owe anyone a verbal resume.
2. Cite Your Sources: In digital spaces, lead by example. Highlighting peer-reviewed research or professional benchmarks sets a standard that “opinion-based facts” won’t fly.
3. Bridge The Research Gap: Highlight the difference between information and insight. Anyone can find a statistic; few can explain its context.