The emergence of social media and the reliance on various platforms is increasingly impacting the way in which we interact with each other and the world as a whole. We know that our virtual network is oftentimes as important to us as our physical network and that the information we digest online is significantly influential, but is social media affecting our critical thinking skills? The answer is, yes. Although, for better or worse is the question.
To learn more about how social media is affecting our critical thinking skills and what you can do about it, continue reading.
In a nutshell, critical thinking skills refer to our ability to analyze, interpret, infer, and problem-solve. These skills typically present themselves in the order of identifying a problem, gathering the data relevant to that problem, analyzing the information we gathered, and making a decision or coming to a solution.
As you can imagine, critical thinking skills require time and mental investment. However, according to research conducted by Stanford University, social media may diminish the amount of mental capacity we spend on any one given problem or task. This is because frequent use of social media tends to interfere with daily interactions, forcing the user to try and split attention between two or more things at a time. This split attention leads to less effective concentration on each given thing, perhaps impacting critical thinking skills negatively.
In addition to the negative impacts of multi-tasking, social media tends to prey on emotion rather than reason. You can thank the algorithms behind your preferred platform for this, as these algorithms deliberately put information in front of you that is targeted to your interest and leanings in any easily digestible format. By seeing information that you already tend to agree with or favor more often than you see information that counters your beliefs, you are being denied the ability to gather all information, analyze appropriately, and come to a more well-informed conclusion.
In other words, you stop questioning. And when you stop questioning, you stop thinking critically.
The most susceptible to the cognitive and behavioral downfalls of social media use are youth and young adults because they are at an age when their emotional intelligence and critical thinking skills are still immature.
The young are particularly reliant on the positive feedback received through social media, which makes them less likely to be critical of information presented, as they do not want to appear like they are rocking the boat or going against their friends.
The case can be made that peer pressure and bullying are only exacerbated because of social media, which allows for a fear culture to grow in this space that makes sharing one’s opinions a risky move. After all, much of one’s social media presence is built upon being liked, and it would be unpopular to voice any divergent opinions.
Although the younger population is more susceptible to conforming to popular opinions, a 2019 Science Advances study showed that older people, those 65 years old and older, are four times more likely to spread misinformation on social media. Thus, proving that a failure to employ critical thinking skills when using social media is not isolated to the younger population. It is a problem shared by many.
In contrast to some of the evidence that social media only harms critical thinking skills, social media, when used right, can be a powerful tool to strengthen one’s critical thinking skills.
With the wealth of information available and competing interests displayed on social media, these platforms can be a resource in developing the ability to scrutinize information and source additional facts to come to more well-informed decisions or more effective solutions to problems.
In order to do this, one needs to be resistant to accepting the first piece of information as the truth before having a chance to validate that information.
The overwhelming amount of information that is fed to us through social media platforms has made critical thinking skills that much more critical in today’s age. It may be an odd characteristic to cultivate, but skepticism will be your best friend when trying to strengthen your critical thinking skills on social media. And while you are practicing skepticism, there are a few things that you can do on social media today to help you get started:
- Look for credentials or other forms of credibility: One way in which you can tell if you are digesting a credible piece of information is to look at the source of that information. Does that person have credentials or other forms of credibility that lend to the validity of the information? If not, be skeptical, and do your own research.
- Examine the sources: If you are reading an article or blog post that you were directed to by social media, search the page for source links. If the information being presented is credible, the article or blog post will contain links to sources for that information. Better than just scanning for links to sources, you should actually click on those links to see what the sources are. Sources such as national or local newspapers, universities, and government agencies are dependable.
- Check your biases: We all have them, and taking a moment to check your biases when consuming information can go a long way in keeping your critical thinking skills sharp.
In a time when information is king and social media is a big player in spreading that information, it is essential to remain vigilant to the information we are taking in. Questioning what is presented as fact and utilizing the amazing tool that is the web to develop well-informed opinions is the key to honing your critical thinking skills on social media.
