Thinking critically about new information - Critical Thinking Secrets

Although the major focus on critical thinking has only been popular in the last 100 years or so, you can see hints of it throughout history. The roots of critical thinking date back over 2,000 years to the work of Socrates. Critical thinking continues to evolve as the world shifts, especially in this digital age.

Keep reading to learn more about what critical thinking is, why it’s important, and how to use it to help you better understand new information and combat information overload.

Contents

1 What is critical thinking?

2 What does critical thinking look like in the digital age?

3 How does critical thinking prevent information overload?

4 Strategies to improve critical thinking?

4.1 Avoid quick judgment

4.2 Get comfortable with research

4.3 Become a good listener

5 References

What is critical thinking?

Critical thinking is the process of taking as much available information about a decision into account before making any kind of judgment or choice about it.

Typically, the process involves doing extensive research by collecting data, reading available evidence, and studying things closely. The goal is for the process to be objective and not influenced by other people’s opinions so that the outcome is based soundly on fact.

Critical thinking is a great habit to practice any time you take in new information for the first time. It allows you to make an objective decision on how you feel about it, which will guide your actions, decisions, and opinions when that situation arises in the future.

What does critical thinking look like in the digital age?

Many cynical people think that critical thinking is dead in the digital age, but the research shows that this isn’t the case.

There’s no question that critical thinking has changed (and continues to change) as the digital world becomes more and more complex. With computers and handheld devices like smartphones that can seem to “do the thinking for you”, the temptation is there to avoid critical thinking.

Critical thinking isn’t as widely taught in schools as it was before, and many people think that it just simply isn’t necessary with friends like Alexa and Siri sitting across the room or in our pockets to answer all of our burning questions.

However, there is the argument that critical thinking is almost more important than over. There is so much misinformation on the internet that it’s easy to get swept up in things that may not even be true.

It’s important to be able to lean on your critical thinking skills to weed through the information on the internet and determine what is true for you. To do this, read multiple articles from reputable sources (ideally online journals and professional publications whenever possible) before forming a decision or stance on a topic.

How does critical thinking prevent information overload?

The digital is ripe with information overload. A simple Google search can yield thousands of search results with no rhyme or reason. You may encounter conflicting viewpoints, incorrect data, or outdated information, which could drastically influence your decisions.

If you practice critical thinking, you can minimize the distraction and frustration of the information overload on the internet. You can quickly weed out the sources that aren’t worthy of your trust and only seek out information that is directly related to the topic you are trying to better understand.

By using critical thinking to guide your search for information, you can avoid the time spent weeding through the noise and just get right to the important stuff. This cuts down on the time it takes to make decisions and can make you feel more confident and educated on certain topics.

Strategies to improve critical thinking?

Most people will agree that critical thinking is very important, but it doesn’t come easily to everyone. If you have never made a practice of critical thinking before, you might find it difficult to do in your own life.

The good news is that anyone can learn critical thinking. Whether you have never done it and need to learn the basics or if you need to brush up on your critical thinking skills after having let them lapse, there is always the opportunity to improve critical thinking.

Here are some of the best strategies to improve your critical thinking:

Avoid quick judgment

Critical thinking is not a quick process. You must consider the topic or situation from all different angles and collect a lot of data about it before you make a decision. To do this effectively, you have to resist the temptation to make a quick judgment about something.

It’s easy to immediately make a judgment about something, especially if you have preconceived thoughts about it. Critical thinking requires you to put those thoughts aside and look objectively at only the facts in front of you and take your time reaching a conclusion on how you feel about it.

Get comfortable with research

Research is a big component of the critical thinking process. You may need to read books, interview people, or review something firsthand to help form your decision about a topic.

Many people shy away from research because it’s time-consuming or it reminds them of being in school, but it is imperative to hone strong critical thinking skills. The key is to embrace the research component and find ways to enjoy it as a process of better understanding what is in front of you.

Your natural inclination should be to research a topic and try to access as much objective information about it as possible before making your determination on how you’d like to move forward.

Become a good listener

Although the biggest thing to remember when practicing critical thinking is not to take other people’s opinions into account, there will be plenty of opportunities when you will need to gather information from others.

To most effectively synthesize information from other people, it’s important to practice good listening skills. When speaking with an expert or someone who can provide helpful, objective information to guide your decision-making process, it’s important to listen well.

Choose the people you ask for information from wisely and be open to hearing what they have to say. Avoid interrupting them when they are speaking, ask good questions, and take notes so you can refer back to the important things that they said later on.