Page 102 - Pure Life 39
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Islamic Solutions to Gen Z's Cognitive Challenges… M. Agha Mohammadi (77
harness our critical thinking abilities types and sizes. Having too many choices
when evaluating information. Muslims can sometimes lead to analysis paralysis
are encouraged to verify sources, and decision paralysis, where individuals
consider different perspectives, and find it difficult to decide due to fear of
reflect on the relevance and implications making the wrong choice or because
of the information they encounter. In they're constantly seeking more
today's world, where social networks are information to make a perfect decision.
widespread and information is rapidly Psychologist Barry Schwartz identified
produced and shared in cyberspace, It is the paradox of choice. He found that too
essential to teach critical thinking skills many choices make decision-making
in schools and integrate them into the difficult (Dovetail Editorial Team, 2023).
curriculum. Students can participate in For example, a study reveals that COVID-
activities where they evaluate real news 19 information overload through social
stories and social media posts to discern media harmed Gen Z social media users’
fact from fiction. This interactive psychological and cognitive well-being
approach encourages the practical (Liu et al, 2021).
application of critical thinking skills. From an Islamic perspective,
managing information overload can be
3. Information Overload approached through several principles:
Information overload is a problem that is
being exacerbated by the ongoing • Seeking Beneficial Knowledge
digitalization of the world and the growing Muslims are encouraged to seek
use of information and communication beneficial knowledge that enhances
technologies (Arnold, 2023). Information their understanding of faith, improves
overload refers to the overwhelming their character, and benefits society.
abundance of information available to One day, the Prophet found a group of
individuals, often resulting in difficulty in people gathered around a man who was
processing and making sense of it all a master of Arab genealogies, pre-
(Appinio Research, 2023). Social media, Islamic history, and Arabic poetry. The
news websites, blogs, and online forums Prophet then remarked,
constantly bombard users with new “If this knowledge is unknown to
content Constant exposure to vast others, it brings no harm. If
amounts of information can lead to known, it offers no benefit”
difficulty in filtering out relevant (Kulaynī, 1986. Vol. 1: 32).
information from noise, affecting their It is important to note that during that
ability to focus and make decisions like a era in Hijaz, people had limited
person looking for a specific type of screw exposure to information so they
in a box containing hundreds of different probably had enough time to spend on
