You've probably heard it used often throughout the years, whether it was in school, at work or in everyday conversation.

But when you stop to think about it, just what exactly is critical thinking and how do you do it?

Simply put, it's the act of deliberately analyzing information so that you could make better judgments and decisions.

It involves using things like logic, reasoning and creativity to draw conclusions and generally understand things better.

This may sound like a pretty broad definition, and that's because critical thinking is a broad skill that could be applied to so many different situations.

You can use it to prepare for a job interview, manage your time, better make decisions about purchasing things and so much more now as humans.

We are constantly thinking it's something we can't turn off.

But not all of it is critical thinking.

No one thinks critically 100% of the time.

That would be pretty exhausting.

Instead, it's an intentional process, something that we consciously use when we're presented with difficult problems or important decisions in order to become a better critical thinker.

It's important to ask questions When you're presented with a problem or a decision before jumping to any conclusions, you can start with simple ones like What do I currently know?

And how do I know this?

These can help to give you a better idea of what you're working with and in some cases, simplify more complex issues.

Let's take a look at how we can use critical thinking to evaluate online information.

Say a friend of yours posts a news article on social media, and you're drawn to its headline.

If you were to use your everyday automatic thinking, you might accept it as fact and move on.

But if you were thinking critically, you would first analyzed the available information and ask some questions.

What's the source of this article?

Is the headline potentially misleading?

What are my friends general beliefs, And do they inform why they might have shared this?

After analyzing all of this information, you can draw a conclusion about whether you think the article is trustworthy.

Critical thinking has a wide range of applications in the real world.

It can help you to make better decisions, become more hirable and generally help you to better understand the world around you.

Yeah, G.

C F.

Global.