Social media have become part of our lives. Their omnipresence has made them the focus of several debates about their influence and the different ways they affect us. Due to this interest, we can find a lot of research about the influence of social media in different areas like critical thinking and mental health.
Recent studies have shown that the relationship between social media and critical thinking is complex. A study made with university students showed that there is an increase in critical thinking when there is a use of social media, however, this positive relationship is reversed when there is social media dependency (Cheng et al., 2022). The complexity of social media and the ways it can affect young users make it necessary for youth workers to have the digital culture to be able to support them.
Neither social media nor critical thinking can be forgotten when we talk about utopias. For the same reason they have been used to spread distrust and conflict and being a key factor in the increase of discourse about a dystopian future, they can be used to convey constructive criticism and confidence in the future. They are tools that are essential to building utopias, social media increases young people’s participation and interest in current events, and critical thinking is necessary to evaluate and use the immense number of messages available. Social media are changing the world, and they are in our hands to use them to walk towards a utopia.
Social media changed the way we communicate
Social media provide a communicative environment which surpasses geographical boundaries and allows more participation and communication than traditional news media, increasing young people’s participation and interest in current events. This increase in communication in social media is accompanied by a way of processing news occasionally and sporadically without taking time to understand and evaluate their content.
Aside from the way people are using social media, we must be aware of the algorithms that are being implemented and that control the type and quantity of news that we receive. These algorithms make critical thinking more difficult because they create an environment where users only receive news from people with similar beliefs and preferences, causing their opinions to be always rewarded, which encourages them to look for information compatible with their point of view.
Using critical thinking in social media
The way a person interacts with the news on social media and their knowledge about their production is linked to their critical thinking towards real-life news. Because of this correlation, it is necessary to point out the importance of acknowledging that the use of critical thinking in the news is a set of skills that must be taught to be able to sort, evaluate and use the immense number of messages available on social media. The skills necessary to utilise critical thinking in social media are:
- Knowing how the information is produced, shared, and manipulated.
- Being aware of cognitive bias.
- Being conscious of the main rhetorical tools and strategies used to decode discourses and to debate.
- Being able to verify sources and detect fake news.
- Develop interpersonal skills which allow you to debate, contradiction and promote transparency.
Critical thinking is essential to transform social media in a facilitator of utopias. Therefore, is important to promote education in digital culture between young people and youth workers.
Bibliography
Cheng, L., Fang, G., Zhang, X., Lv, Y., & Liu, L. (2022). Impact of social media use on critical thinking ability of university students. Library Hi Tech
Costera Meijer, I., & Groot Kormelink, T. (2015). Checking, sharing, clicking and linking: Changing patterns of news use between 2004 and 2014. Digital journalism, 3(5), 664-679.
Feltrero, R., Hernando, S., & Acosta-Sznajderman, L. (2023). Educomunicación contra las fake news: una experiencia en sMOOC para el desarrollo de la alfabetización mediática crítica. Revista Mediterránea de Comunicación.
Ku, K. Y., Kong, Q., Song, Y., Deng, L., Kang, Y., & Hu, A. (2019). What predicts adolescents’ critical thinking about real-life news? The roles of social media news consumption and news media literacy. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 33, 100570.
Oeldorf-Hirsch, A., & Sundar, S. S. (2015). Posting, commenting, and tagging: Effects of sharing news stories on Facebook. Computers in human behavior, 44, 240-249.