Critical thinking and media literacy Part IV

Critical thinking and media literacy

Critical thinking is a process that helps organize concepts, ideas, and knowledge. It is the ability to analyze and reflect on facts objectively in order to create a judgment, it is also the ability to think about problems without accepting, the ability to analyze and evaluate in the mental process through which a person uses the information available to logically arrive at a conclusion, solution, or idea

Our way of thinking are essential skills in today's world, it is not developed automatically at birth, it is the ability to critically evaluate information, it is necessary to practice to be able to use it, without our critical thinking we run the risk of being deceived by misinformation, the propaganda, fake news is the ability to collect and analyze information to reach a certain conclusion

More than two hundred years ago people could not trust everything that was published in the newspapers, today we cannot trust much what circulates on the Internet. Thanks to new technologies, we currently have an enormous amount of information

Media literacy in the XIX century considered that a literate person could only read and write, but technology has changed, it has created more supports and information, it is necessary to know how to use communication tools to obtain knowledge, the ability to access, create and analyze that there are types of literacy:

-Digital literacy

-Internet literacy

-TV literacy

All are taught separately, it is a great opportunity for libraries to support users efficiently and prepare a new information and knowledge society in which they learn the skills and abilities to function in current media, produce content and understand the critical information received. It is the capacity of a person who can critically and effectively analyze, evaluate and understand the media.