How to develop critical thinking in the age of Internet?
The internet is an instant answer machine, whenever you have a question, all you need to do to get an answer is to bring up Google on your computer, or to pull your phone, or if you’re feeling particularly lazy ask for one of the many voices assistants that are, let’s be real here definitely always listening to you.
What if there is no access to the internet, which means that if I run into a problem or if I come across something that I don’t know. The only thing I have to rely on is the bundle of neurons up in my cranium, which to be honest, contains a vastly more limited set of answers and knowledge, than I’ll find on the internet.
But maybe that’s a good thing. See, when I was studying for an Math entrance exam for an admit an engineering college back in 12th grade, I developed a bad habit of sorts, trigonometry was really hard for me so I would often end up going to the math department to get help from the professors in the mornings, and at some point I realized that they had the answers jotted down in their notes. So, naturally, I started going to the department to do all of my homework, and a pattern started to develop where I would get stuck on some part of a trigonometric inequalities problem or something, and then I would eventually go to the department, to get the answer. I had this threshold when I became mentally lazy and went for those answers, because the notes was always there and I had access to those answers all the time. Overtime, my threshold for giving up lowered and lowered and lowered, and in recent years I’ve seen this pattern emerge on a larger scale and a more general scale with regards to that magical answer machine that you’re using to watch this video right now.
For all its benefits. The internet can encourage the formation habits that make us mentally lazy, and this isn’t just an anecdotal observation, either there is data to back this up. For example, a study done at Harvard in 2011 found that when people are faced with difficult questions, they’re now more primed to think about computers, and it also found that when they expect to have future access to information, they have lower rates of recall for the information itself and higher recall for where they can access it.
Essentially, we start to perceive the internet as a true extension to our brain’s memory banks. This is called cognitive offloading and more recent research has found that the more we use the internet to answer questions, the more quickly, we turn to it in the future.
Cognitive offloading begets more cognitive offloading, and this is congruent with the habits before we’re on to other efforts saving technologies like washing machines and cars and some people would say that’s okay, that’s no different than how we moved away from specializing in oral memorization when the printing press was invented. And, well, we didn’t really lose much in that transition right, but this time is different. The problem with the internet is that we don’t seem to limit our mental outsourcing to simple facts, our critical thinking abilities are affected as well. Our day-day habits are typical of our behavior as a whole, unless we consciously work against it, our brains naturally want to take the path of least resistance. When I was in renting a car in Seattle recently, the closest I can park my car was about half a mile from my apartment, which meant that I basically never used it. Instead, I just walked everywhere, or sometimes grabbed Uber bike, but now that it sits here in my garage. Well, I have to make a conscious disciplined effort not to use it. And make no mistake, it’s worth making that effort. Every time I choose not to drive, I get exercise, I spend more time, truly connected with my surroundings, and I don’t contribute to traffic and pollution, but at the same time without my car, and wouldn’t be able to get to many of the places that I really want to go.
Cognitive offloading begets more cognitive offloading
The Internet presents us with the exact same dilemma. Well, there are very real benefits to curbing the amount of cognitive offloading we unconsciously do the access to knowledge and the ability to get instant answers are both incredibly useful, like, how many ounces are in a pint. So, how do you strike a balance, how do you allow yourself to use this tool, while also retaining your critical thinking skills. This is incredibly important to consider, given the fact that sometimes we’re going to encounter problems with the internet simply can’t help us, and other times we’re going to be in places where we don’t have access to the internet. So, here’s a simple solution to this problem:
When you’re confronted with a question that you don’t know the answer to, or you’re stuck on a problem, ask yourself: “Do I have even a shred of confidence that I could solve this on my own?” If the answer to that question is yes, then, challenge yourself to work on the problem for a few minutes on your own before running to Google.
Akamai leverages the 15 minute rule when anyone at the company find themselves stuck on a problem to the point where they feel like they need help. The first thing they have to do is spend 15 more minutes trying to solve it will also documenting the things they try and this documentation process is actually quite helpful as it causes them to think about the problem from a different perspective, which often helps them solve the problem on their own. But if they’re still stuck, after 15 minutes, that’s when they must ask for help. And this rule helps everyone to strike a balance, they’d stay in the habit of thinking independently, but no one wastes too much time banging their heads against problems that truly struggle. I think that this is a great way to achieve balance in the way that you use the internet, because you don’t want to lose the capabilities that it gives you, it is incredibly powerful, but you also want to retain your own ability and your instinct to solve problems on your own, to use your brain, and to be able to put it to work. And the only way you’re going to do that is if you frequently put it to work. One of my favorite books Atomic Habits, the author James clear talks about how our habits are basically how we embody our identities. One example he gives is that if you make your bed every day, you are embodying the identity of a person who is currently in organized and the decisions that we make the behavior that we exhibit on a daily basis, stems, largely from our identities, every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become no single instance will transform your beliefs as the votes build up, so to is the evidence of your new identity.
So, what identity, do you want to build. Are you okay with being the mentally lazy person who outsources everything to machines, or will you be the independent problem solver, for whom the internet is simply one useful tool. The choice is yours.
