The Director of the Center, Vadim Glushchenko, moderated the "How To Learn To Think Critically?" session. The discussion was devoted to ways to counter manipulation and misinformation on the Internet, as well as instilling a proper culture of media tolerance. Together with bloggers, a teacher and a senior director of communications at the university, the participants discussed how to check information correctly, from what age it is worth teaching this to children, what life hacks and methods there are, at what level fact-checking is now and whether it is a necessary skill for people in the 21st century.
In his opening speech, Vadim Glushchenko drew attention to the fact that the topic of fakes in the online space continues to be relevant, especially due to the development of technologies of generative artificial intelligence and other inventions of mankind.
According to the participants of the discussion, the average life expectancy of a fake in Russia in 2023 was 4 days. At the same time, 65% of Russians surveyed believe that they know how to distinguish unreliable information from the truth. However, this is not always the case, and nowadays it is critically important to teach not only media literacy, but also digital culture. At the same time, it is necessary to study both for the new generation in schools, and for the same teachers and students of higher educational institutions.
Summing up the session, the speakers came to the conclusion that critical thinking is one of the most necessary skills of our time, and the ability to distinguish truth from lies is the key to maintaining one's own psychological health and successful career building.
"In a rapidly changing world, there is only one constant – self-change. It is important to treat any information with a reasonable degree of distrust, because even information from reliable sources can quickly become outdated or lose some properties. There is a wonderful Russian saying on this score, which does not lose its relevance: "First try, then trust" Vadim Glushchenko concluded.
