Lectures: 152
The word poisoning refers to the ingestion, inhalation or skin contact with tangible products that cause serious physical injury or death. They are harmful chemical substances in the form of drugs, poisons, gases, etc. More recently, a variant has been introduced into our lexicon that refers to the affectation of mental health produced by toxic people or forms of life.
Information intoxication refers to the state of mental and emotional saturation that occurs when a person is exposed to an overwhelming amount of information that they are unable to process. Undoubtedly, the saturation level is not the same for all people, however, all people do have a limit.
The information we receive from the moment we wake up until we fall asleep is so much and varied: advertising on the packaging of household products, on public roads, the media such as radio, TV, newspapers and magazines, the information necessary to carry out each of our jobs, social networks, advertising on these platforms, and many other ways in which information reaches us and continues to arrive.
Information intoxication affects our cognitive capacity and makes it difficult to process it effectively, with an impact on concentration, decision-making and the ability to assimilate what is relevant and discard the rest. The most frequent consequences of information poisoning in our society are stress, anxiety and fear produced by excessive consumption of negative news that abounds in the media and social networks, often generated with the sole intention of causing harm.
Recognizing the negative effect of information intoxication is the first challenge in order to reduce its consumption along with developing critical thinking in order to be able to discern in the face of the information bombardment. That is, being able to distinguish through the intellect between two or more pieces of information on the same subject.
The ability to discern should be important and a priority in educational processes from the preschool stages, and even more so in times of overcrowding and access to consult, for example, artificial intelligence sites that deliver information without any consideration or filter regarding its veracity, relevance or validity.
Although the development of critical thinking and the ability to discern are in the category of important in the Chilean educational system, its implementation is extremely difficult because it requires a comprehensive and continuous approach that involves teachers, administrators, families and society. in general. But the reality is that we are facing a structured system on specific subjects, with teachers who do not have the necessary tools and resources to promote critical thinking and discernment in the classroom.
If we want to promote people’s mental health and well-being, it is essential to learn to discern in this world intoxicated by information.
Marcelo Trivelli
Seed Foundation
