Technology
and Critical
Thinking HOW DO WE
KEEP YOUNG
MINDS ENGAGED?
W e are sitting around
the dinner table and
a question comes
up. Who won the World
Series last year? What is
the most populated state
in America? Is a cucumber
a fruit or vegetable?
12 Washington FAMILY
MARCH 2023
Instead of using our brains, we all whip
out our handy devices and ask Siri, Alexa
or Google to find the answers for us. On
the one hand, it is incredible that we can
instantaneously find the answer to just
about any question that pops into our head.

On the other hand, we no longer have to
remember anything or spend time analyzing
information because all the answers can be
found with the click of a button or through
voice recognition. How will kids ever learn
to retain information and connect the dots if
technology rapidly provides all the answers?
Psychology Today defines critical thinking
as the “capacity to reflect, reason and draw
conclusions based on our experiences,
knowledge and insights.” Our children
depend on this skill to communicate, create,
build and progress. Critical thinking is a
complex process that combines a number
of tactics including observing, learning,
remembering, questioning,
judging, evaluating, innovating, imagining, arguing,
synthesizing, deciding and acting. We use
critical skills every single day to make good
decisions, understand the consequences of
our actions and solve problems.

Now that technology has infiltrated our
children’s lives, critical thinking skills are
harder to achieve. However, our children
still need to be able to think critically even
with all the gadgets that they can rely on.

From solving puzzles to deciding when to
cross the street to eventually competing
in the job market for positions in science,
engineering, health, social sciences and
other fields will require well-developed
critical thinking skills.

For years, experts have been evaluating
the impact of technology on critical thinking
skills. According to Patricia Greenfield,
UCLA professor of psychology and director
of the Children’s Digital Media Center,
children’s critical thinking skills are getting
worse while their visual skills are improving.

She analyzed more than 50 studies on
learning and technology, including research
on multitasking and the use of computers,
the internet and video games. She found
that real-time visual media do not allow
for reflection, analysis or imagination. In
addition, reading for pleasure has declined
among children and teens in recent decades,
which is a concern because reading enhances
imagination, reflection and critical thinking
in a way that visual media like video games
and television do not.

Terry Heick, a former English teacher in
Kentucky, explained to NPR that his eighth-
and ninth-grade students immediately turn
to Google for answers. They then report back
what they find practically word for word,
without thinking through the research. He
wanted his students to take time to assess
the information they needed, determine
how to evaluate the data, and then address
METAMORWORKS/ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES PLUS
BY SANDI SCHWARTZ