In the current vernacular of social media culture, "Do your own research" translates to: "Surf the web until the algorithms dish up enough sugary mental junk food to make you feel better about having been so fucking stupid all this time."
There's a very low probability that you've found any real answers, and a very high probability that you've built yourself a false reality.
Once upon a time, I worked with some pretty high-level people - doctors, medical researchers, etc. I had the easy job of selling stuff to these really smart guys, so all I had to do to learn a few things from them, was to ask some hopefully-not-too-stupid questions, and then shut up and listen.
One of the main things they taught me was that really smart scientists never say 'never' and they never say 'always'. They're very careful to say things like, "As far as we know", and "It's all but certain".
When you're talking with someone who's earned the right to be arrogant about their actual, honest-to-god expertise, it's kinda weird to hear them say something like, "I'm pretty sure", instead of "I'm the doctor - my word is law".
If you hear somebody come on with that last bit, then you have to decide: Am I being recalcitrant and fact-averse, or is he just asserting his ego? There's almost always a judgement call to be made. For me, I tend to trust the people whose names are followed by half the alphabet.
So stay humble: The more you learn, the more you need to understand how little you actually know, and how much more there is to find out.
