It's a Conspiracy! Conspiratorial Thinking and the Digital Environment
From Think for Christ by Dr. Anthony Alberino and Dr. Andrew Payne
December 4, 2025 · 16 min
About this episode
This episode explores the rise of conspiracy thinking in the digital age and how the internet shapes our cognitive habits.
In this episode, we dive deep into one of the most striking features of our cultural moment: the explosive rise of conspiracy thinking—and why the digital environment is the perfect greenhouse for its growth. The internet doesn’t just expose us to conspiracy theories. It disposes us toward conspiratorial thinking. From the Charlie Kirk assassination narrative to the viral success of commentators like Candice Owens, it’s clear that conspiratorial frameworks resonate powerfully in today’s networked world. But the real question is why. I argue that the structure of the digital environment itself is subtly reshaping our cognitive habits. The constant flood of chaotic, unfiltered information pressures us to seek coherence. And the most natural, efficient organizing tool we have is narrative. But when narrative begins to substitute for evidence—when coherence replaces correspondence—we fall into what I call narrativism: the intellectual vice of mistaking a compelling story for a justified explanation. In this episode, we explore: Why humans, overwhelmed by digital information overload, instinctively rely on narrative How narrativism turns conspiracy theories into cognitively “easy”…
People in this episode
Hosts: Dr. Anthony Alberino, Dr. Andrew Payne
Topics covered
- conspiracy thinking
- digital environment
- narrativism
- information overload
- cognitive habits
- social media
Keywords
- conspiracy theories
- narrative
- digital information
- cognitive biases
- algorithms
- social media
- information superhighway
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