Mike McBride Online

Artificial Intelligence | SocialNetworking

Worth Reading – How Malinformation Tricks Your Brain
ByMike McBride January 17, 2026January 16, 2026 Reading Time: 2 minutes

The article above, however, makes it clear that our brains take shortcuts to make quick decisions. In doing so, the number of times we see something that isn’t true can impact whether we treat it as false or true. They say familiarity breeds contempt when it comes to other people, but maybe familiarity with shared information breeds acceptance, regardless of the truth.

That is frightening in a world where tens of thousands of posts can be created in minutes.

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Mental Health

Worth Reading – We Asked 9 Burnout Experts Their Secrets to Protecting Mental Health at Work—and They All Said the Same Thing
ByMike McBride January 14, 2026January 13, 2026 Reading Time: 1 minute

This article gathers input from multiple experts and continues for 28 paragraphs without once mentioning the employers’ expectation that we do all the things they tell us not to do.

It’s all well and good to point out that setting boundaries, saying no, ending our work day on time, etc., are good ways to avoid burnout. It’s another thing entirely for many of us to have that option in the first place.

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Tech

Gmail Users Losing POP and Getting AI Whether We Like It or Not
ByMike McBride January 10, 2026January 10, 2026 Reading Time: 1 minute

Personally, I’ve moved away from using the POP feature in Gmail to import mail from other email accounts into Gmail to take advantage of the spam protection. Since I host my own sites and my own M365 tenant, much of that spam protection lives elsewhere for me, but I can understand why others have continued to use it.

But it’s going away.

Never fear, though. In 2026, Google wouldn’t dare let you have a product that doesn’t feature AI. So, we’re all getting the AI Inbox, and you will have to opt out if you do not want an AI-generated list of to-dos and summaries instead of just reading your email.

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Artificial Intelligence | Personal | SocialNetworking

Worth Reading – Is 2026 The Year We All Decide to Quit the Internet?
ByMike McBride January 5, 2026January 4, 2026 Reading Time: 2 minutes

I’ve always written under the assumption that people were reading what I put out here and, hopefully, learning something. In the age of AI-slop, I want more of that, and only that. I’m seeking it out and connecting with it. I am not connecting with people who are creating crap content in a chase for attention. Bring your authentic self, or I’m ready to assume your account is AI slop.

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Artificial Intelligence | SocialNetworking

Worth Reading – X Users Have the Power to Edit Any Image Without Permission
ByMike McBride January 2, 2026January 1, 2026 Reading Time: 2 minutes

Should we start a pool on the first Grok-produced image harassment case to hit the courts? Will it be simple harassment, or will it involve CSAM, revenge porn, etc.? There’s no way this doesn’t get misused, and Elon knows it. He doesn’t care.

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Artificial Intelligence | LawFirms

Worth Reading – The Achilles’ Heel of AI: The Data That Feeds It
ByMike McBride December 24, 2025December 24, 2025 Reading Time: 1 minute

This challenge, in part, is why my job title is now related to Information Governance and Compliance. It’s recognizing that data is a valuable asset and a significant risk. Grounding your AI in low-quality data is a massive risk

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