Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 13/Jan 03:17

Google effect and critical thinking

AS EDUCATION systems increasingly pivot towards the deployment of a range of digital technologies in their pedagogy, educators are increasingly challenged to guide their students through the corresponding avalanche of information. To many, it may even be described as the age of information overload, in which our young impressionable minds are virtually drowning, overwhelmed and unable to differentiate between fact and fiction. Owing to the ease of internet access, many people have developed a tendency to default to this medium and in the process inadvertently offload routine thinking and information recall capacity to machines. This mental laziness has led to the evolution of a digital amnesia, referred to as the Google Effect, whereby it has become easy to Google and forget. This over-reliance on search engines has a major drawback – a diminished capacity to engage in critical thinking. The tendency to forget information that is easily accessible online is a primary contributor of cognitive offloading and avoidance. This state of mental being fundamentally shifts how individuals engage in critical thinking. The most direct impact is the change in memory structure; for instead of internalising facts, the brain prioritises remembering where to find information rather than its content. This in turn reduces the knowledge base of one’s long-term memory. This knowledge base is essential for synthesis – a core component of critical thinking. This instant availability of answers subconsciously discourages the intellectual effort required for deep critical engagement. The corollary of this is the inability of students to engage higher-order cognitive skills for analysis, evaluation, inference, interpretation and ultimately problem-solving. Many internet users tend to accept the first few search results, opting not to engage in critical evaluation of source credibility or analyse complex arguments. Many teachers lament the seemingly shortened attention spans of students during class and their inability to connect ideas. This attention fragmentation arises from constant switching between search tabs and being bombarded with sensationalised information for prolonged periods. These quick searches diminish attention spans, making it harder to sustain the prolonged concentration required for creativity and complex problem-solving. Information overload and the increasing use of smart devices seem to have an overall dumbing effect on the mind. Indeed, many students shun sustained intellectual engagement. The research is also showing that the ability to Google anything can also artificially inflate cognitive self-esteem, leading to overconfidence on the part of some learners. The illusion of knowledge often conflates the vastness of the internet with their own personal intelligence and knowledge base, leading to diminished reflective reasoning, since many users assume they know something simply because they can find it instantly. Teachers must guide students to think about a solution rather than searching for one. This promotes creativity, originality and adaptability. This can be done by promoting arguments/debates, exploration, playful action and open-ended tasks with morality dilemmas. The over-reliance on technology must be discouraged by promoting proper understanding of subject matter. The technology is merely a tool to facilitate learning and the development of critical thinking but never seen as a substitute. With the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), this mental-dependence phenomenon has evolved into what researchers call AI offloading, where users are increasingly relying on generative AI to not only retrieve information, but also to perform reasoning and analysis tasks. Studies are now pointing to a negative correlation between high AI tool deployment and critical thinking scores, with younger generations showing higher AI dependence coinciding with lower independent reasoning abilities. Such analytical atrophy does not bode well for critical thinking capacity. The fixation effect and over-reliance on AI instead of brainstorming tends to restrict creative thinking to the specific solutions or patterns provided by algorithms. Fortunately, the impact of digital amnesia is not uniform across all populations, with individuals possessing a larger existing knowledge base being less susceptible to the negative effects of technology over-reliance, since they have more internal anchors to connect to new information. Unfortunately, analytical atrophy and mental laziness are becoming quite fashionable among many young people. While multi-tasking is a good skill and has its place, it does not engage higher-order cognitive skills. Good old-fashioned mental mathematics or notes writing still has its place in classrooms. When citizens are unable to think critically, collectivity stupidity rises, opinions and alternative facts replace logic, and people thrive in echo chambers where they only hear what they believe. Critical thinking as a life skill is now more relevant than ever, especially in combatting misinformation, lies, deception and holding leaders accountable. 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