"Thinking is my fighting. This sentiment was a prominent theme in her 1940 essay, Thoughts on Peace In an Air Raid, in which the British writer framed the importance of individual thought as a crucial antidote to war and the rise of fascism."
"While literacy rates in the U.S. continue to plummet, a soaring number of individuals are adopting habits antithetical to thinking-offloading even the smallest of cognitive tasks onto Chat GPT, doomscrolling for hours on social media, and numbing the mind with addictive " brain rot." Critical thinking is being traded for passive acceptance and the death of curiosity-all in the name of efficiency and capital innovation. Our minds have become the new commodity."
"In response to this, I've seen a clear cultural shift toward self-education. I, too, have been influenced by this new wave of autodidactic learning- personal curriculums, digital detoxes, reading challenges, etc. While these are certainly more examples of internet trends worming their way into our algorithms, beneath them lies something deeper: a collective desire to reclaim our own thoughts."
"For Colossal, accessibility has always been an ongoing commitment. Over the last 15 years and counting, every article, interview, and instructional aid on our site has remained completely free. Our team believes that the ability to learn about and enjoy art must be universally available."
Thinking is presented as a form of resistance against war and fascism, emphasizing the importance of individual thought. Modern habits are described as shifting toward offloading cognition, doomscrolling, and consuming addictive content that dulls curiosity. Critical thinking is portrayed as being replaced by passive acceptance in the name of efficiency and innovation, with minds treated as commodities. A cultural movement toward self-education is described through personal learning plans, digital detoxes, and reading challenges. Access to quality educational materials is also described as difficult due to high tuition, fees, and paywalls. A commitment to free access to art learning resources is offered as a way to make education universally available.
#critical-thinking #education-and-literacy #self-education #digital-distraction #access-to-information
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