We need to be beyond a level of discourse where "because science" or "a study said" is considered a fait acompli. Science often contradicts herself and studies are often debunked.
Just because "some guy wrote it", doesn't make it so.
I don't disagree. But I don't think personal anecdote is a sufficient answer. You could criticize the quality of the research (in more specific terms than "pop-sci") or present contradictory evidence and I'd have no problem with it. Simply attacking a guy in a casual discussion that is not particularly rigorous for posting a citation you deem insufficiently rigorous without further explanation I do not think is fair.
Initially, I merely proposed that in the modern world we need to be more rigorous in our evaluation of scientific propositions.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18083635
That's where you joined in.
If you have an observer giving a truthful account that conflicts with an established fact then surely something must account for that discrepancy.
See for instance radio-waves vs Kirchoffs law. It's not that Kirchoff was wrong, it's just that he didn't account for frequency as a variable, which was solved by Maxwell.
Now, that's for established facts. If you're talking about commercially adulterated science then you have an even higher burden to bear.