Social Media, Journalism, and Critical Thinking
The ability to think critically is fading due to social media and it’s role in journalism.
To think critically is to take on the process of analyzing, interpreting, explaining, open mindedness, and problem solving. These skills are used to guide behavior. So, why in the age of social media is this ability so rare to find among young people?
The majority of information on social media that is presented is full of propaganda. As soon as an idea or opinion trends among influencers, it too easily becomes truth. Critical thinking is fading due to propaganda spread through social media.
Emotions and the reactions to them. Young people are being manipulated into a build up of emotions with little to no reason behind them.
According to the article from Parlay Ideas below, social media is training young people to react to how a post or information presented made them feel, and to forget.
Personalized Journalism is news which is targeted to people on social media that will most likely be pleased by the information being presented to them. When the same information is constantly being presented to the same people, the ability to think critically is lost.
In conclusion, the reason critical thinking is so foreign among social media users is because of the overwhelming amount of propaganda, the push for emotion over truth, and personalized journalism which allows readers to go on without being challenged in their way of thinking. Above is a video with steps you can take to become a better critical thinker.
Pay attention.