It's unlikely to imagine our society living its routines without the use of the numerous digital resources we currently have, among which we can highlight artificial intelligence (AI) and social media. Whether for professional or leisure purposes, these technologies are present in various tasks in our daily lives – which, despite bringing undeniable benefits, are also negatively impacting people's critical thinking. A concerning effect that could lead to even greater consequences if not properly understood and addressed.
Both resources are strongly present in our country. In 2024, for example, Datareportal data identified that Brazil had 144 million active social media users, representing 66.3% of the total population. With the use of AI, the scenario couldn't be different: three out of four Brazilians use this technology at work, according to a survey conducted by Opsos and Google – considered crucial for dealing with complex information and finding innovative solutions to business challenges.
Not all technology, however, offers only advantages. Although widely used by society, AI, for example, presents a huge challenge in terms of its energy consumption. It is estimated that more than 10 times the energy is required for AI research compared to traditional search engines. On social media, the obstacle is related to the dissemination of fake news, which is becoming increasingly difficult in the context of global polarization.
Both in the medium and long term, there is a more concerning disadvantage in 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 (information pandemic), whose analysis and verification of this large amount end up becoming a major challenge without proper guidance from reliable mechanisms.
With users' focus gradually being impaired, this critical sense becomes increasingly difficult to apply. After all, in an increasingly instant world, it is complex to set aside quality time to delve into the topic and verify whether it is correct or not. Knowing, in other words, "mining" and separating the "wheat from the chaff" regarding the information received daily.
Beyond this impact on superficiality in information, many academic studies show a correlation between increased anxiety and depression due to the massive use of social media, as well as correlations with other disorders associated with the numerous hours spent connected and plugged into a screen. This was shown by the Mental Health Panorama 2024, conducted by the Cactus Institute in partnership with AtlasIntel – which reported that 45% of anxiety cases in young people aged 15 to 29 are related to intensive use of these platforms.
In the market, the lack of this critical sense also tends to hinder innovation, which is created and invested in primarily to solve society's pains and problems. One of the main "entry points" for generating innovation is knowledge about something, but when we do not understand that something and delegate this analysis to technology, much is lost in the process, increasing the impact on the creation of new products, services, processes, and consequently, innovation.
We are in a delicate situation of balancing, in a healthy and intelligent way, the use of these technologies in our daily lives, without affecting our critical thinking and causing severe impacts on the population and the entire market. And, regarding 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 use of these resources.
One of the models that has been standing out the most in this regard is the ISO Innovation, a recently published methodology that aims to analyze all market and technology opportunities and threats to generate innovation within organizations. It provides the best guidelines to be followed by each company in order to achieve their goals and aspirations for competitive excellence.
There is no way to eliminate AI or social media from our routines, which requires a high level of responsibility in handling them intelligently, so that they become beneficial allies rather than technologies harmful to the population's critical thinking. With this discernment and the support of robust methodologies in this regard, we will have highly effective solutions for our tasks.
Alexander PierroHe has a master's degree in innovation management and engineering, a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, nuclear physics and is a management specialist at PALAS, a pioneering ISO innovation consultancy in Latin America.
