Information injection

The era of mosaic thinking has already arrived: a very large number of people have forgotten how to think and absorb information without even trying to give a critical assessment

The fathers always grumbled that, they say, the youth has gone stupid now. However, at one time the grandfathers of that same youth grumbled at their children... So this baton was passed on through generations, the children grew up and reproached their children for stupidity. Everyone got used to it and called this phenomenon a conflict of generations. But somehow, in the usual course of life, we missed the moment when the children, let’s say, began to grow up somewhat more slowly, or even stopped altogether. Not physically, no, but mentally and morally. Have you heard about such a phenomenon as mosaic thinking? This applies to a situation when a person can perceive information only fragmentarily, and even then if it is provided with sufficiently strong stimuli. It is very difficult for people with mosaic thinking to read large texts, especially books, watch long videos and films. Gradually, the ability to analyse information and draw deep conclusions from it disappears. Moreover, a person becomes extremely susceptible to manipulation, because he or she begins to be guided mainly by emotions. There is a gradual degeneration of thinking. So how did we get to the point where this phenomenon has become widespread?

Background and first information injections 

In general, mosaic thinking is the norm for young children, but with the right development, thinking begins to become more complicated, and children gradually get used to working with large amounts of information. 

The elementary education system is designed specifically for the transformation of mosaic thinking into a system one. Everything used to work correctly before, but since about the end of the 90s, we ourselves began to create conditions that allow adults to move from critical thinking to mosaic thinking and feel quite comfortable. 

Well, it’s easier to live with mosaic thinking from a biological point of view. At least the brain is not overloaded, breaking the information flow into unrelated fragments. Only now you start to get dumb, and for the same reason you cannot realise it...
It is believed that the beginning of the processes that make it possible to switch to mosaic thinking was laid in the 90s, when numerous advertising inserts began to appear on television, breaking the air. The advertisers were faced with the task of cramming the maximum amount of information into the minimum amount of time, preferably with a strong emotional charge.

Moreover, such information injections greatly relax the brain, it begins to get used to the fact that information can be received very quickly, and even with emotions. Moreover, there is no need to draw conclusions, because there are already ready-made conclusions in advertising. 

A little later, the problem only worsened with the development of the Internet. Information began to be presented as concisely as possible, just to attract users. A person, having got to a certain resource, should receive information with ready-made conclusions as quickly as possible, have time to notice the advertisement and move on. See for yourself how much more clip content has become: shots, stories — everything is organised for a few seconds of interaction. And our brain is actually extremely plastic, it adapts very quickly to changing conditions, a person does not even notice how this happens. 

So we have come to the main marker, denoting the mosaic nature of our era and giving rise to ‘screen people’... 

TikTok: in pursuit of leadership 

This social network was launched in China in 2016, and in 2018 it entered the international market. It instantly became one of the most popular social networks. The fact is that TikTok just fell perfectly on the request of young people, it was originally designed specifically for clip content. In fact, it is supposed to exchange clips that are as concise as possible, bright, emotional, and sometimes even informative (carrying a certain message).


It was exactly what the youth wanted: even shorter, even brighter, even more emotional.

And if until 2019 the growth in the popularity of TikTok was very high, then during the outbreak of the coronavirus, it became simply explosive. 

It is extremely understandable, people were sitting at home, they wanted something bright and fast. This social network, quite rightly called a place for degradation, also managed to conquer an adult audience. It was here that the same clip-likeness affected: the grains fell into fertile soil, richly flavoured with previous decades of information compression. And after this takeoff, TikTok really became one of the most popular social networks in the world. Where there is fame, there is money...

The opportunity to promote your ads through popular bloggers will never be missed by anyone, and the more popular the platform, the more users you can get and the more expensive advertising will cost.

 

Dangerous lifts

The so-called challenges can become a lift to the top of popularity. This is when people begin to massively repeat after someone the idea already implemented in the video. Popular challenges are gaining a lot of views, and people are happy to join the process.

These entertainments are not always safe and harmless. Well, what can you do, it’s a competition. We have to add sharpness and drama. Against the general background, there are those who were able to stand out really brightly, both stupidly and dangerously, and sometimes even lethally. 

For example, you can ask a friend to jump up and hit him on the legs at the moment of the jump, and then post a video of how he fell funny. These videos are becoming very popular. True, several people have already died during such filming, but who will stop such trifles. Or here’s another great example: you need to film how you loosen the wheel bolts on the car, and then watch the accident. An accident involving three cars has already occurred because of this challenge on one of the busy highways.

New reality

Why am I putting so much emphasis on this? 
To show that the era of mosaic thinking has already begun: a very large number of people have forgotten how to think and live only with emotions, absorbing pre-chewed information, without even trying to conduct some kind of independent analysis and give a critical assessment of their own actions.

And it would be nice if this army of degenerates (in the scientific sense) simply entertained itself, but they also happily absorb any, even the craziest ideas, as long as they are emotionally charged enough. 

So, now a reasonable question arises, what to do with this clipping of the mass consciousness? How to stop this process in general and not to become its victim?
Well, you have to start with yourself. If in any incomprehensible situation it seems to you that you immediately understand everything, and you don’t even have to think to understand what is happening, then you are already at risk. Try to read more books that are known to be reasonable, kind and eternal. After watching the film, try to state for yourself the main thoughts that this film carries. Sometimes take a break from surfing messengers and social networks. In general, train your brain to work.
Teach children to think from school, encourage the craving for analysis and their own conclusions as much as possible. After all, a person who knows how to think will react to the ‘You are incredible’ slogan in such a way: why incredible, why would someone call me and what these people want from me? Whereas a fool with mosaic thinking immediately exclaims emotionally: ‘That’s it!!! I’m really incredible!!!” Well, we already know how this ends. This is such an ambiguous trend today, and this happens not only with us, it is observed all over the planet. It’s time to do something with it. 

By Yuri Terekh