Critical Thinking and Media Literacy

 what is critical thinking?

Critical thinking is having the desire to seek, the patience to doubt, the fondness to meditate, the slowness to affirm, the readiness to consider, the care to put in order and the hatred for all kinds of imposture". From a more modern perspective, critical thinking is understood as the ability to analyze and evaluate the consistency of reasoning, especially those statements that society accepts as true in the context of everyday life, such as fake news, especially relevant today due to their proliferation and rapid viralization.

what is media literacy?

According to the National Association for Media Literacy Education, media literacy is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create and act using all forms of communication. Media literacy means everything from interpreting emojis to understanding the underlying messages in online ads, producing viral video content, and recognizing native advertising.

While media literacy sounds like a practical skill understood by everyone with Internet access, it's amazing how many online users are unaware of its impact on others and their own susceptibility to media manipulation.

We're breaking down three reasons why it's important for young users and connected professionals alike to be fluent in the media chaos.

Why does this matter?

Observation and interpretation are skills that extend beyond the realm of resisting faulty advertising. Questioning the norm and reinterpreting layers of everyday messaging gives students everything they need to become smart decision makers in real-world scenarios.