With so much misinformation, and lies being spread around social media, media in general and the Internet, it has become harder to know what to believe or who to trust. Specially when that misinformation resonates with core beliefs of people unwilling to do some extra research, or just look for more information to collaborate what they came by before making up their mind.
All of these becomes more insidious, when you add into the mix the fact that there are many that aren't capable to question what they come the information they come by. Many just take it on face value, which in some cases can lead to the wrong conclusions about the subject of the news they heard about.
Critical thinking is a skill that needs to be learned, and even easier to take for granted for those who learn to think in such a way. So much so, that it takes many by surprise that many people out there didn't learn to think critically. Which makes it hard to communicate with them, since some don't take kindly when someone not only refuses to take their ideas, but also questions them.
Sadly, the education we receive both at home and school doesn't always gives us the tools to think critically. Kids are thought to memorize information, and not to actually take it to be understood and be processed to come to their own conclusions. They aren't allowed to ask why do things work the way they do, jut to accept that things just work that way.
If we want a stronger society, one that can actually make the best use of democracy, all the people needs to be able to think critically. The root problem isn't that social media can be used for people to exchange ideas, rather that people aren't able to discern misinformation because they don't have the tools to recognize it.
Time has come to make sure that our education systems equips people with the tools that help them to think critically. It isn't just the way to build better a better society, but actually save our democracy.
No comments:
Post a Comment