The Overlooked Skill We All Need Online: Critical Ignoring
Thinking critically matters, but in today’s attention economy, knowing what to ignore may matter even more.
We’re often told to “think critically” when navigating information online. I agree that critically examining information is essential, but in today’s attention economy, it’s not enough. We don’t just need to know what to pay attention to; we also need to know what to ignore.
Psychologists and education scholars argue that ignoring is just as essential as critical thinking for modern media literacy. This skill, known as critical ignoring, involves strategically filtering out low-quality or manipulative content so that our limited attention can be focused where it truly matters. Researchers outlined three main types of critical ignoring in this scientific paper that help people manage today’s overwhelming information environment.
1. Self-Nudging: Redesign Your Digital Environment
Just like we might hide sweets in the back of the cupboard to eat healthier, we can redesign our digital spaces to reduce exposure to junk information. This is about preventing temptation before it happens.
Examples:
Set time limits or app usage caps (e.g., via Screen Time or Focus modes).
Switch your phone to grayscale to reduce the visual pull of apps.
Unfollow or mute low-quality accounts and pages that clutter your feeds.
Temporarily deactivate distracting platforms when you need focus.
Personally, I set timers on my social media apps and found that I’ve saved a ton of time I might otherwise be wasting, and I feel better. This is consistent with research that found deactivating Facebook for a month freed up about an hour a day, increased well-being, and reduced political polarization.
2. Lateral Reading: A Smarter Way to Check Credibility
When you encounter unfamiliar claims or sites, don’t only examine the arguments made within the article itself. Instead, leave the page and look up the claims and the author’s background elsewhere. This is also how professional fact-checkers work:
Open new tabs.
Search the organization, author, or claim.
Use a variety of reliable outlets and search engines to assess credibility.
This “lateral” approach is far more efficient than trying to critically evaluate an unknown site on its own terms. Lateral reading significantly improves the ability to discern falsehoods, and I describe the process in detail in this post.
3. Do Not Feed the Trolls: Withdraw the Attention Reward
I constantly advocate for ignoring trolls, and was glad to see this paper agree. Trolls, superspreaders of disinformation, and harassers thrive on your engagement, so it’s important to not give them a boost in the algorithm.
The do-not-feed-the-trolls heuristic is simple:
Don’t respond, correct, or debate trolls, as it is exactly what they want
Block, ignore, and even report the worst ones.
This approach cuts off the social rewards trolls crave, reducing their incentive to continue. Trolls may be automated accounts designed to sow division, or they may be people who enjoy bothering others. Either way, you’ll feel better if you let them be.
A New Literacy Paradigm
Traditional education emphasizes paying attention and critically examining information. But online, attention itself is the commodity being exploited. Teaching people to ignore strategically (not indiscriminately) is essential for preserving autonomy and navigating a polluted information ecosystem.
Critical ignoring doesn’t replace critical thinking; it creates the space for it. By filtering out the noise first, we can then direct our mental energy toward information that truly deserves scrutiny and focus.
UPDATE
I built a free online tool that coaches you through critical ignoring! It’s part of a larger suite of online tools that teach psychological and media literacy.
Such a great piece, it's so good to remember that a lot of what is distracting us and taking up brain space is of no value to us whatsoever. It's just been put there, like an obstacle in our path.
True, true!