Critical Thinking, Critical Consumption, Cultural Humility, Cultural Competency - Why We Need It All.
All I think about is how much of a critical thinker I am, how much of a critical consumer I am. I question basically everything, especially because I never really used to at a young age.
Fair warning: this may sound more academic-like. I miss writing academically lowkey, but that’s only because I be missing learning. Okay, now, will start this academic writing.
Algorithm bias* is just so blatantly obvious. The media that we consume favors the dominant, white community. Well, how do you know that? It’S jUsT aN aLgoRitHm. But someone has to create the algorithm, right? Exactly. It was just in 2018, when Noble (2018) made findings that Google is perpetuating narratives and giving power to dominant groups through their algorithms. Since there is a lack of representation and lack of racial knowledge in who is creating these technologies and algorithms, marginalized groups become so negatively impacted. This trickles down into every aspect of the internet that we consume.
The more I consume media, the more aware I become of the biases that occur just within the internet. It’s just so in your face. For example, if you look up sh*t like “casual outfits”, do you notice the demographic? Or just when you look up anything, period. This can be on any search engine, like Google TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube, etc.
When you have to specify who you’re looking up - for example: Asian light brown hairstyle - it just implies that looking up “light brown hairstyle” doesn’t include Asian people. If you look up “light brown hairstyle”, what’s the demographic?
I didn’t have to type “White girl light brown hairstyle”, it’s the implication and non-inclusive way of reinforcing that the status quo is white. It may seem so minor, but in the long run, it just reinforces white dominance. Furthermore, the algorithms themselves have shown and proven to disproportionately impact underrepresented and marginalized communities, as shown in Noble’s (2018) research.
This is why inclusivity and representation is SO important. If you don’t question what you look up on the internet or just what you consume on the internet, it can lead to a lack of critical thinking skills.
The thing is, we can’t just put this all on the consumers. What about the creators of these technologies? There needs to be some accountability within that realm, too. There needs to be a real change, there needs to be true representation and inclusion within these tech companies, as to prevent instances in which underrepresented communities become disproportionately affected by biased algorithms.
I, obviously, don’t want to disregard performative actions that occur within society. It takes more than just having someone as a “face of diversity and inclusion”, it’s not the flex you think it is, mr. institution. Listening, learning, and seeking different experiences and stories from all different kinds of people is what’s going to really help you with learning and understanding what inclusivity and representation really means. You have to really step outside of your own circle to learn from and listen to others, to create true change within society.
With that important tangent, let’s circle back to being critical consumers of the media. As mentioned, it shouldn’t be put solely on us to seek and question the media that we consume; there should definitely be change created within these tech spaces, which is also part of an even longer conversation that I am so glad to talk about, too. But, that’s not necessarily what we’re talking about now.
With being a critical consumer, comes being a critical thinker. This helps to understand and dig deep into what the media is trying to say and make you think about the ways you consume media.
Always do your own research before believing what one thing said.
That just felt necessary to say. You can’t just believe everything that is handed to you. Question it. It’s okay to. I get it, that’s not what you’re taught in school growing up. You’re not taught how to think or how to learn. You just “learn” random “facts” and sh*t. That can be part of a larger conversation and to get a glimpse into it, read more here!
We are taught to basically memorize and regurgitate facts. It was rare that someone wanted to learn, because no one really taught us how to actually learn or really have fun with learning. No one truly connected with material that was presented to us. You’re basically just taught how to memorize things, how to take information as it is - and barely on how to critically think, be problem solvers, be culturally competent, and exhibit cultural humility.
That’s just a small snippet into what the education system should be implementing into their curriculum, especially in schools who have large populations of underrepresented communities.
I just think that implementing all of this into the education system, granting more money and resources to the education system, would be a proactive approach to social justice.
It’s - UGH- an institution so it makes it a lot harder to try to get things like this implemented - like cultural competency, cultural humility, and all that. We’d be teaching children to question what’s presented to them, as they should, and, unfortunately, there’s a lot of places that would definitely oppose this. It’s definitely a more progressive approach, which would, unfortunately, create a lot of chaos and backlash. That is also part of a larger conversation.
With all that said, be aware of what’s being put out on the internet, in whatever capacity. Understand that representation and inclusion is important in all aspects of media consumption. Representation and inclusion is important for communities and individuals. Representation helps with connection, and inclusion helps with cultural competency and cultural humility. All of this, in turn, helps build empathy and helps us strive towards social justice.
xoxo,
kaels
too bad ain’t me<3
Maybe I’m an overthinker, maybe this was just a tangent, but I do think everything I said holds truth.
*I learned about this in a class I took - Tech Inequality in the Silicon Valley. Keep an eye out for a blog post regarding everything related to this, that way you can fact check me and my sources (;
Noble, S. U. (2018). Searching for black girls. In Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism (pp. 64–109). NYU Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1pwt9w5.6