I obviously don't have a silver bullet. Some steps I've personally taken include things like canceling television service and canceling subscriptions to infotainment publications, whether in print or online. I've taken steps to minimize the number of distractions I'm forced to deal with, and don't participate in _most_ social media. For me, these distractions amount to enough mental noise that I have a hard time thinking critically about anything beyond my job. Without them, I've found numerous benefits, not the least of which is the ability to think more clearly and decide for myself whether a news item passes the smell test. I would advocate everyone at least try this. I suspect you'll find you have way more free time than you think, and the mental quiet will do most people some amount of good.

These personal steps don't really do anything to curb the actions of others. Frankly, I just don't have any solid solutions to offer. You can't legislate this sort of thing. It might be possible to break up some large media conglomerates under anti-trust laws, but given the amount of control the current media have to control the conversation, that seems like a non-starter to me. Ending the 24-hour news cycle would help too -- but again, there's a market, it exists, and we can't just wave a magic wand to get rid of it.

I think it's possible that the infotainment industry could atrophy and die off given enough lack of interest or enough obvious outright lying that their credibility becomes laughable. (As an aside, I've found the reaction of NBC to Brian Williams' "big fish" stories to be just perfect. Can't let the head news anchor call the whole operation's credibility into question, and so the punishment was predictably harsh.) I don't see that death as even remotely imminent.

I'm definitely open to suggestions!