I have noticed that, more and more, people have stopped thinking for themselves. Phrases like "Stop it! I do not feel like thinking!" flood my day-to-day life. I understand that at this time of year, people are on vacation and want to rest, but this is something that also happens during the rest of the year. In addition, sometimes I notice that when people speak, they do it according to other people’s opinions. I say this because I have noticed several times that the arguments used to answer a question are similar to other people’s, as well as the expressions and words they use. But where did this behavior come from?

The internet and critical thinking

I believe that critical thinking may have been greatly affected by the emergence of the internet and social networks. The fact is that with the ease of obtaining and sharing information, the concept of mainstream has emerged, which is what is most popular on the internet. This way, people started watching the same videos, playing the same games, listening to the same songs (aka "commercial" songs), et cetera . As a result, internet celebrities have emerged, which ended up defining, in part, what is popular in the digital world. I confess that I do not understand anything about cyber psychology, but the fact is that people who follow these personalities blindly, like Youtubers or Streamers , end up adopting the same way of thinking, speaking and acting, especially in the younger ones.

One consequence of this behavior, which I have come to notice more and more, is that people do not take a little of their time to understand the information given to them or to verify the veracity of the information in more than one source. Moreover, it seems that people who are very much exposed to entertainment are not taking the trouble to practice logical activities, which is problematic since logic is the basis of critical thinking.

What to do to train critical thinking?

There are several ways to train critical thinking, it is a fact, but today I will leave you two ways to strengthen this practice that I consider quite relevant.

Exercise activities that require logic

I think the title explains itself. If we practice activities that require calculations, or logical thinking, such as programming, analyzing cryptocurrency prices, or even calculating the value of purchases when we go to a supermarket, that is a good start. In this way, you will be strengthening the cognitive part of your brain, which in my opinion helps a lot in creating structured reasoning and critical thinking.

Question EVERYTHING

Why is the sky blue? Why am I wondering why the sky is blue? Why am I reading this post? Doubt is a powerful tool, and thinking about these simple questions and checking facts can be a very impactful practice in people's lives. I believe that searching for answers is something intrinsic to the human being, no matter the theme, and the simple fact of finding them is a very rewarding process. I know this, I felt this on my skin several times. So, do me a favor: when you find some kind of information on the internet, always question its veracity, always look for facts in more than one website. And yes! Question everything that I said in this post!

But why the hell do I want to think critically if I'm okay like this?

This issue alone deserved a post, but I think that critical thinking is at the root of problem-solving in the world. After all, it was the great thinkers who contributed greatly to what we know today. In this field, I consider Einstein to be a great reference for me since he devoted his life to exploring how the world works, and his fundamental characteristic was curiosity. Therefore, I believe that critical thinking is an intrinsic practice to anyone who wants to help humanity evolve, and I think technology can be a great tool to help us in this regard if it is used correctly.

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Thank you for reading so far!

I hope you enjoyed this post and I wish that it could help you in the future!

What about you? What do you think about this particular topic?

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See you soon,
Shaden