“Smart people tend to engage deeply with what little information is available, a process called critical thinking. In the age of the internet, it has become a trap.”—Christopher Mims, Wall Street Journal
Lately, I’ve been struggling with my media consumption. I’ll pick up my phone for something intentional, and within seconds I’m pulled into a shocking headline or comment thread. Then suddenly it’s an hour later, time to make dinner, and my thoughts are all over the place.
Most of us do this to some extent. We know it’s unhealthy, so we just brush it off and tell ourselves we need to cut back on screen time.
But screentime isn’t the only issue here.
The way we respond to media changes our neural pathways, and usually not in a good way.
Consider this: When I read one of those biased headlines or aggravating comments, I can feel my internal state shift. I may go to judgment (of self or others) or sometimes feel a sense of “should.” I think, “I should care about this, I should have a take on this, I should be paying attention.”
If I don’t catch it, I’ve just handed over my attention—and more importantly, control of my thoughts.
I see this happen all around me. It’s not just that we’re consuming more information. It’s that we’re letting that information drive our thoughts without ever choosing them or testing them.
That’s the part that concerns me.
Why I’m Turning to Critical Ignoring
We’ve been trained to believe that paying attention = being informed.
Huge oversimplification.
Personally I’ve noticed the more I try to ‘pay attention,’ the less informed I am. Because my brain is sorting through misinformation, ragebait, prejudiced opinions, and other things that often have no relevance, no utility, and no positive impact on how I think, lead, or live.
As a recent Wall Street Journal article puts it, “In the age of the internet, it [critical thinking] has become a trap.”
So what I have to tell myself is, “Not everything deserves your attention.”
Try saying that out loud, to yourself, right now. See how it feels.
I try to sort information by what is RELEVANT and what is IMPACTFUL, and ignore what doesn’t check these two boxes.
Professor and psychologist Sam Wineburg calls this ‘critical ignoring.’ “It’s ignoring after you’ve checked out some initial signals,” he said. “We think of it as constant vigilance over our own vulnerability.”
I love that wording, because it sums up how I’m feeling these days: vulnerable. And I know other people are too.
How to Ignore with Intention
Critical ignoring isn’t about checking out entirely; it’s about filtering what you see and only mentally engaging with something that’s worth your energy.
This is where I use my SCFL framework to test what I’m consuming and see if I should be expending energy on it.
Here’s how I think about it in real time:
- SPOT: I notice the thoughts that form immediately after I consume something. If I’m thinking “This is terrible,” “This is obviously true,” or “This person is right,” those are all highly reactionary thoughts.
- CHECK: I ask a very simple question: What is this based on? Do I actually know that my reactionary thoughts are true? Or do they just feel true because of how the information was presented? This is where most of my clients struggle, because checking requires a pause—and we’re not used to pausing.
- FLIP: This is the mindset shift. Flipping isn’t about forcing a positive thought. It’s about choosing a more accurate one: I don’t have enough information yet. This might be one perspective, not the full picture. I can withhold judgment until I verify this. This isn’t relevant or impactful for me, so I’m going to choose not to devote my energy to it. This is where I decide whether I need to research something more, or simply opt out and critically ignore it.
- LOCK: And…this is the discipline. It takes practice for critical ignoring to become your default response. I’m still working on this part!
Critical ignoring may feel like a lot of unnecessary mental gymnastics, but it’s how you stop passively absorbing everything you see. (And it definitely beats letting your thoughts and emotions get jerked around by random social media posts.)
Every thought you entertain has a downstream effect. So for me, it’s not about discipline, but more about protecting the quality of my thinking. This is how we can steward our thoughts—even in a world of information overload.
