Social Media Weakens Users’ Critical Thinking and Requires Strategic Responses

Abstract

As social media becomes more and more popular, it has an increasing impact on the way people think. Many platforms recommend content based on criteria such as the number of likes and view time, a mechanism that makes emotional, one-sided and even misleading information more likely to be seen, while issues that are truly insightful and can help us think are instead buried. By reviewing data and analysing the policies of several countries (e.g., Germany, UK, EU, US, Singapore, China) and major platforms (e.g., Meta, YouTube, X, and TikTok), this study tries to figure out the causes of these problems and what current policies do well and what they don't do well. The study found that while countries and platforms have taken some measures to manage social media content, such as removing false information, protecting youth, and publishing transparency reports, many of the policies still lack coherence and platform governance is not open and transparent enough. At the same time, most of the current policies only focus on ‘content’, but neglect the understanding and judgement of the users themselves, especially adults, who rarely have the opportunity to receive relevant education or improve their information literacy. This paper suggests that the government, platforms, and society should work together to improve the transparency of platform governance, develop diverse recommendation algorithms, strengthen user education on information literacy, especially for young users, and establish a long-term, open, and monitorable regulatory system. It is hoped that through the cooperation of all parties, social media can become a space conducive to reflection and rational dialogue.