Academic findings only have so much scope. It's nuanced and the news reporters, kindergarten teachers, and scientists themselves often overclaim the impact of the findings. All of the short term incentives reward overclaiming over nuance and no one should be surprised that the zeitgeist is where it is.
What's difficult is that it's hard to communicate the nuance of what a study actually studied. How many people were involved? What were the methods used? What was the effect size? What were the confounding factors that couldn't be controlled for? None of this can be effectively communicated in a world that reads headlines and probably not much beyond that.
And of course, the media does sensationalize because they're incentivized to. You'll click a headline that says "alcohol is good for you, says science" but probably won't click a headline that tries to communicate the nuance.
People seem to feel compelled to form an opinion on every topic, and then think that whatever their take is must be informed.
It is okay to not have an opinion on a topic!
If someone is particularly interested in obtaining an armature understanding of a subject, by all means, they should jump in and form on opinion, but maintaining some humility is essential.