It seems unlikely to imagine our society going about its routines without using the numerous digital resources we have today, among which we can highlight artificial intelligence (AI) and social media. Whether for professional or leisure purposes, these technologies are present in various tasks of our daily lives—tasks that, despite bringing undeniable benefits, are also negatively impacting people’s critical thinking. A concerning effect that could have even greater consequences if not properly understood and addressed.
Both resources are strongly present in our country. In 2024, for example, data from Datareportal identified that Brazil had 144 million active social media users, representing 66.3% of the total population. As for AI use, the scenario is no different: three out of four Brazilians use this technology at work, according to a survey by Opsos and Google—considered crucial for handling complex information and finding innovative solutions to business challenges.
However, not all technology offers only advantages. Even though widely used by society, AI, for example, presents a major challenge in terms of increasing energy consumption. It is estimated that it takes more than 10 times the energy to conduct an AI search compared to traditional search engines. On social media, the obstacle lies in the spread of fake news, which is becoming increasingly difficult to combat in the context of global polarization.
Both in the medium and long term, there is a more concerning downside to the excessive use of these resources, which could severely impact people’s focus and critical thinking. This is because, every day, we are exposed to a flood of information (an information pandemic), where analyzing and verifying this vast amount becomes a major challenge without the proper guidance of reliable mechanisms for doing so.
As users’ focus is gradually impaired, this critical thinking becomes increasingly difficult to apply. After all, in an ever-more instantaneous world, it is complex to dedicate quality time to delve deeper into a topic and verify whether it is correct or not. In other words, knowing how to ‘mine’ and separate the ‘wheat from the chaff’ regarding the information received daily.
Beyond this impact on superficial information, many academic studies show a correlation between the increase in anxiety and depression due to the massive use of social media, as well as links to other disorders associated with long hours spent connected and plugged into a screen. This was shown by the 2024 Mental Health Panorama, conducted by Instituto Cactus in partnership with AtlasIntel—which reported that 45% of anxiety cases in young people aged 15 to 29 are related to the intensive use of these platforms.
In the market, the lack of critical thinking also tends to hinder innovation, which is created and invested in primarily to solve society’s pains and problems. One of the major ‘entry points’ for generating innovation is knowledge about something. However, when we do not understand that something and delegate its analysis to technology, much is lost in the process, increasing the impact on the creation of new products, services, processes, and consequently, on innovation.
We are in a delicate scenario of balancing, in a healthy and intelligent way, the use of these technologies in our daily lives without letting them affect our critical thinking or triggering severe impacts on society and the entire market. And for companies, the best way to avoid or mitigate these problems is to use governance models designed to analyze each of these points and provide more precise guidance on how to make the best possible use of these resources.
One model that stands out in this regard is the Innovation ISO, a recently published methodology that aims to analyze all market opportunities and threats, as well as technologies, to generate innovation within organizations. It provides the best guidelines for companies to follow in order to achieve their goals and aspirations for competitive prominence.
There is no way to eliminate AI or social media from our routines, which demands a high level of responsibility in handling them intelligently, so they become beneficial allies rather than technologies harmful to people’s critical thinking. With this discernment and the support of robust methodologies in this regard, we will have highly effective solutions at hand for our tasks.
Alexandre Pierrois a master in innovation management and engineering, a bachelor in mechanical engineering and nuclear physics, and a management specialist at PALAS, a pioneering consultancy in the Innovation ISO in Latin America
