Liberty Lifestyle: America Has a Trust Problem

“You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment if you don’t trust enough.” ~ Frank Crane

Americans have more access to other people’s opinions than at any time in history, yet many feel less connected to the people living right next door. We may trust thousands of anonymous reviewers to recommend a restaurant, doctor, or contractor, while barely knowing the names of our neighbors. It raises an interesting question: Have we become better at trusting digital communities than the real ones just outside our front doors?

Trading Community Trust for Digital Trust

There was a time when we trusted our neighbors and the people we knew for help and advice. Communities would come together to help build a barn, have neighborhood meals and entertainment, and hold after-church activities. Today, though, trust has declined. Just 44% of Americans say they trust all or most of the people in their neighborhood, according to a Pew Research study. For that matter, only 26% of people say they know most of their neighbors.

When it comes to getting advice in this technical world, more people trust strangers online than those they know. A survey commissioned by Reputation and conducted by Prodege in 2024, included 2,000 US consumers and looked at what influenced people when they were making purchasing decisions. More than half of the participants (54%) revealed they trusted online reviews first, while 24% said they trusted friends and family first, and 18% said they trusted what companies said about themselves.

When it comes to younger generations, the survey found that 76% of Generation Z participants relied on customer reviews as the most important factor when they were choosing what to buy. Another interesting component of the study was how inflation and economics factored into decision making. Reputation found that the percentage of consumers who considered reviews important nearly doubled from 30% to 55% during times of economic uncertainty.

We’ve gone from personal word of mouth to digital word of mouth. In a 2024 Frontiers study, researchers explained that reviews act as what’s called a trust transfer mechanism, meaning buyers borrow confidence from previous customers. People respond to positive feedback and, even if they’ve never done business with or even heard about a company or seller, they’re more likely to purchase from them.

Brightlocal’s 2026 Local Consumer Review Survey included 1,002 US adults. Researchers found that 97% of consumers read online reviews before making a decision, and 41% said they always read reviews. This is a large increase from 2025 when just 29% always read reviews. How the company or seller ranked is also a large consideration. About 31% of consumers, according to the survey, will only consider a business with 4.5 starts or higher, and 74% said they only pay attention to reviews written within the last three months.

Reviews Can Be Influenced

“A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.” ~ Charles Spurgeon

America has always valued independent thinking and making our own decisions. Online reviews fit that tradition in one sense since they let people bypass advertisers, corporations, and traditional gatekeepers by hearing directly from other consumers. However, instead of relying on the advice of people we actually know, we increasingly depend on algorithms that decide which strangers’ opinions we see first.

One of the problems here is that there are a lot of fake reviews that influence a company, seller, or product. Some less-than-honorable companies pay freelancers to write fake reviews to boost a product or bad assessments to hurt a competitor. That’s not likely something we would see in face-to-face communication with people we know.

Technology Replacing People

One of the biggest changes isn’t simply that we trust online reviews. It’s that we’ve become accustomed to looking to technology for answers before turning to the people around us. Need to know how to fix a leaky faucet? Ask YouTube. Looking for parenting advice? Search Reddit. Many people now ask artificial intelligence before they ask a friend, neighbor, or family member. Technology has made information more accessible than ever, but it has also changed who we consider our most trusted advisors.

Millions of people now use artificial intelligence chatbots to answer everyday questions because it’s available 24 hours a day, never gets tired, and usually delivers an answer in seconds. The convenience is undeniable, but it also means people may spend less time talking with those around them and more time relying on machines to fill that role.

There is also a subtle difference between information and wisdom. An AI chatbot or online forum can quickly provide facts, suggestions, or thousands of opinions, but it doesn’t know your personality, your family, your values, or your unique circumstances the way someone who has known you for years does. Previous generations often sought advice from parents, grandparents, pastors, teachers, and longtime friends because trust was built through shared experiences, not algorithms.

Perhaps that is the greatest irony of modern life. Americans have more ways than ever to communicate, yet many people feel lonelier and less connected than previous generations. We have instant access to millions of strangers, but fewer conversations with the people living across the street. As technology continues to shape how we make decisions, it may be worth asking whether convenience has quietly replaced community and if, in our search for better information, we’ve begun to lose something just as valuable: The trust that comes from knowing one another.