Lack of Critical Thinking is Crippling Our Society
The internet certainly doesn't help countries run smoothly, but it's—in part—our missing understanding that's really making life difficult.
Soon after Harvard Professor Steven Pinker spoke at a Harvard event about his disagreements with the Alt-Right, a snippet of his talk went viral. The video, however, was completely out of context, making him appear a supporter of the movement he was decrying.
In a recent New York Times article about the incident, the author claims social media makes us dumber, evidenced by such an example of a false story spreading so thoroughly, leading to incorrect judgements and erroneous mass hysteria.
But while it's true that navigating the internet jungle can be perilous, I think social media is a mere tool here, not the primary culprit.
The real culprit is our growing, general lack of critical thinking skills.
What makes people prone to this type of gross, incorrect overgeneralization is that so many from the past few generations haven't learned the skill of critical thinking, nor have they needed it to survive like our forefathers.
When you couple that with people who genuinely, out of the goodness and rightness of their hearts, want to fight for what they think is right, you have people who, when they hear information—rather than weighing the information from a non-biased perspective—take some portion of what they hear and relate it to something that already exists in their narrative. This thus makes the topic about how they hear it rather than what it actually is or was intended.
We need not come to the same conclusion, but we should come to a conclusion with prudent contemplation, even if that decision should be made quickly. How much more difficult to know what’s true when we’re not exercising the relatively basic skills of listening and considering the thoughts/perspectives of other people.
This is where social media comes in, amplifying and empowering the aforementioned problem. Some yell online (or in person), while others are quiet, yet this misinformation goes on and on. Without the critical thinking means to deeply evaluate the matters the cacophony grows louder—like pouring gas on an errant fire or sending a flock of birds to endlessly turn and dive to the whims of some birds who’ve hit their heads and lost their internal compass.
Do we generally need to make sure we're using social media wisely? Absolutely, of course. But what we really need is to focus more on teaching our children, extended families, and everyone else around us what it means to cultivate the invaluable skill of critical thinking.
If we do, I believe it will change our society—and our internet—for the better.
