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30 Days to Better Thinking and Better Living Through Critical Thinking Better critical thinking can transform your life and help you improve every decision you make! Now, in just 30 days, master specific, easy-to-learn critical thinking techniques that help you cut through lies, gain insight, and make smarter choices in every area of your life -- from work and money to intimate relationships. World-renowned critical thinking experts Dr. Linda Elder and Dr. Richard Paul show how to overcome poor thinking habits caused by self-deception or out-of-control emotions... clarify what you really want... recognise what you don't know... ask better questions... resist brainwashing, manipulation, and hypocrisy... critically evaluate what you're told by advertisers, politicians, your boss, even your family... avoid worrying, conformism, and blame. Each day, readers focus on a specific thinking habit, learning practical strategies for achieving results and keeping a journal of daily progress. Expanded, improved, and easier to use, this new Revised and Expanded editon offers today's most complete and practical plan for using critical thinking to build a better life. It includes: Five new "days" of critical thinking workouts, with even more powerful "life improvement" ideas New illustrations and diagrams that clarify the relevance of critical thinking in real life A practical new introduction to the world-renowned Paul-Elder Framework for Critical Thinking, and much more
The Aspiring Thinker's Guide to Critical Thinking The Aspiring Thinker's Guide to Critical Thinking introduces concepts and strategies for developing essential reasoning skills and intellectual character. As students advance in their academic studies and encounter new situations in their lives, they must learn to differentiate fact from fiction and make decisions based in good reasoning. They must learn to be clear, accurate, relevant, logical, and fair when expressing ideas. This book lays out a clear framework for guiding this development and encouraging lifelong intellectual curiosity. As part of the Thinker's Guide Library, this book advances the mission of the Foundation for Critical Thinking to promote fairminded critical societies through cultivating essential intellectual abilities and virtues across every field of study across world.
Critical Inquiry : The Process of Argument This informative book is a necessary companion for anyone seeking to uncover the secret of successful persuasion: to organize, construct, and communicate arguments. It is at once comprehensive and accessible, an authoritative guide to logical thinking and effective communication. First, the text defines the nature and uses of argument, explaining how to read argument carefully. Such analysis then requires the student to reconstruct arguments in his or her own words. Finally, the reader is taught how to create a critical, reasoned response, thus constructing his or her own argument. To increase its accessibility and expand its range of application,Critical Inquiry uses (in addition to textual examples) advertisements from print media as "texts" for applying its principles to subjects outside the traditional mode of academic presentation. Throughout, carefully selected reading questions and exercises pace the reader and ensure that the material is securely grasped and successfully applied.
Critical Thinking: the Basics Critical Thinking: The Basics is an accessible and engaging introduction to the field of critical thinking, drawing on philosophy, communication and psychology. Emphasising its relevance to decision making (in personal, professional and civic life), academic literacy and personal development, this book supports the reader in understanding and developing the knowledge and skills needed to avoid poor reasoning, reconstruct and evaluate arguments, and engage constructively in dialogues. Topics covered include: the relationship between critical thinking, emotions and the psychology of persuasion the role of character dispositions such as open-mindedness, courage and perseverance argument identification and reconstruction fallacies and argument evaluation. With discussion questions/exercises and suggestions for further reading at the end of each main chapter, this book is an essential read for students approaching the field of critical thinking for the first time, and for the general reader wanting to improving their thinking skills and decision making abilities.
Critical Thinking : Tools for Evaluating Research Critical Thinking prepares students to thoughtfully interpret information and develop a sophisticated understanding of our increasingly complex and multi-mediated world. Peter M. Nardi's approach helps students sharpen their critical thinking skills and improve their analytical reasoning, enabling them to ward off gullibility, develop insightful skepticism, and ask the right questions about material online, in the mass media, or in scholarly publications. Students will learn to understand common errors in thinking; create reliable and valid research methodologies; understand social science concepts needed to make sense of popular and academic claims; and communicate, apply, and integrate the methods learned in both research and daily life. A companion website includes links to articles and books mentioned in the chapters, illustrative items, videos, and current news and research that elaborate on each chapter's key concepts.   
Critical Thinking : Tools for Taking Charge of Your Professional and Personal Life Use better thinking to empower yourself, discover opportunities, avoid disastrous mistakes, build wealth, and achieve your biggest goals! This is your complete, up-to-the-minute blueprint for assessing and improving the way you think about everything - from business decisions to personal relationships. Drs. Richard W. Paul and Linda Elder, of the Center for Critical Thinking, offer specific guidance for making more intelligent decisions, and overcoming the irrationalities and sociocentric limits we all face. Discover which of the six stages of thinking you're in and learn how to think with clarity, relevance, logic, accuracy, depth, significance, precision, breadth, and fairness. Master strategic thinking skills you can use everywhere and learn how to critically assess what experts tell you. Packed with new examples and exercises, this guide won't just help you think more effectively: it will help you use those skills to empower yourself, discover new opportunities, avoid disastrous mistakes, and grow your wealth. Above all, it will help you gain the confidence and clarity you need to pursue and achieve your most important goals in life - whatever they are!
Critical Thinking Skills : Effective Analysis, Argument and Reflection The ability to demonstrate critical thinking is essential for students who seek to achieve good grades at university but it typically creates a lot of confusion and anxiety. Critical Thinking Skills provides an easy to follow, step by step guide to developing analytical reasoning skills and applying them to tasks such as reading, note-making and writing. A complex subject is broken down into easy to understand blocks, with clear explanations, good examples, and plenty of activities to develop understanding at each stage. Students can use this book to: · Critically assess other people's arguments · Recognise flawed reasoning · Evaluate the material used to support arguments · Apply critical thinking when reading, writing and making notes · Write excellent essays and reports The 4th edition features a new section on argument mapping techniques, which help readers to visualize the structures of an argument. It also contains new and updated examples that link to current affairs, showing the importance of critical thinking as a lifelong skill. Written by internationally renowned author Stella Cottrell, this is an essential resource for students looking to refine their thinking, reading and writing skills.
Critical Thinking Skills for Dummies Turbocharge your reasoning with Critical Thinking  Just what are the ingredients of a great argument? What is the secret to communicating your ideas clearly and persuasively? And how do you see through sloppy thinking and flim-flam?  If you've ever asked any of these questions, then this book is for you!  These days, strong critical thinking skills provide a vital foundation for academic success, and Critical Thinking Skills For Dummies offers a clear and unintimidating introduction to what can otherwise be a pretty complex topic. Inside, you'll get hands-on, lively, and fun exercises that you can put to work today to improve your arguments and pin down key issues.  With this accessible and friendly guide, you'll get plain-English instruction on how to identify other people's assumptions, methodology, and conclusions, evaluate evidence, and interpret texts effectively. You'll also find tips and guidance on reading between the lines, assessing validity - and even advice on when not to apply logic too rigidly! Critical Thinking Skills for Dummies: Provides tools and strategies from a range of disciplines great for developing your reflective thinking skills Offers expert guidance on sound reasoning and textual analysis Shows precisely how to use concept mapping and brainstorming to generate insights Demonstrates how critical thinking skills is a proven path to success as a student Whether you're undertaking reviews, planning research projects or just keen to give your brain a workout, Critical Thinking Skills For Dummies equips you with everything you need to succeed.
The Critical Thinking Toolkit The Critical Thinking Toolkit is a comprehensive compendium that equips readers with the essential knowledge and methods for clear, analytical, logical thinking and critique in a range of scholarly contexts and everyday situations. Takes an expansive approach to critical thinking by exploring concepts from other disciplines, including evidence and justification from philosophy, cognitive biases and errors from psychology, race and gender from sociology and political science, and tropes and symbols from rhetoric Follows the proven format of The Philosopher's Toolkit and The Ethics Toolkit with concise, easily digestible entries, "see also" recommendations that connect topics, and recommended reading lists Allows readers to apply new critical thinking and reasoning skills with exercises and real life examples at the end of each chapter Written in an accessible way, it leads readers through terrain too often cluttered with jargon Ideal for beginning to advanced students, as well as general readers, looking for a sophisticated yet accessible introduction to critical thinking
Fact over Fake : A Critical Thinker's Guide to Media Bias and Political Propaganda Today's instantaneous and ever-present news stream frequently presents a sensationalized or otherwise distorted view of the world, demanding constant critical engagement on the part of everyday citizens. The Critical Thinker's Guide to Bias, Lies, and Politics in the News reveals the power of critical thinking to make sense of overwhelming and often subjective media by detecting ideology, slant, and spin at work. Building off the Richard Paul and Linda Elder framework for critical thinking, Elder focuses on the internal logic of the news as well as societal influences on the media while illustrating essential elements of trustworthy journalism. With up-to-date discussions of social media, digital journalism, and political maneuvering inside and outside the fourth estate, Fact or Fake is an essential handbook for those who want to stay informed but not influenced by our modern news reporting systems.
How to Read a Paragraph : The Art of Close Reading How to Read a Paragraph introduces the importance of purposeful skilled reading and lays out methods by which to develop close reading skills using the tools of critical thinking. Developing these skills enables students to read for deep understanding, to properly analyze and assess what they read, and to reason within the logic of an author. As readers engage with the thinking of authors and uncover their assumptions and motivations, they glean the most useful information from their written work. This book pairs with How to Write a Paragraph to offer an in-depth introduction to effective reading and writing skills. Activities in the book help sharpen reading comprehension skills for an elevated level of self-understanding, fulfillment, and depth of vision. As part of the Thinker's Guide Library, this book advances the mission of the Foundation for Critical Thinking to promote fairminded critical societies through cultivating essential intellectual abilities and virtues within every field of study across world.
How to Write a Paragraph : The Art of Substantive Writing Though close reading and substantive writing are essential skills for the educated person, they are frequently ignored in education. How to Write a Paragraph applies critical thinking tools to the process of writing to guide students towards developing clear, effective, and meaningful written communication. As a companion to How to Read a Paragraph, this volume in the Thinker's Guide Library includes activities to sharpen writing skills and overall reasoning abilities. Readers who work through this guide learn to be clearer, more purposeful, more aware of the assumptions guiding their thoughts, and more substantive in their approach to writing. As part of the Thinker's Guide Library, this book advances the mission of the Foundation for Critical Thinking to promote fairminded critical societies through cultivating essential intellectual abilities and virtues across every field of study across world.
Liberating the Mind: Overcoming Sociocentric Thought and Egocentric Tendencies Throughout history, thinkers within every part of society have been crippled by an ingrained bias toward their own views and the views of their preferred social groups. As these dangerous egocentric and sociocentric tendencies continue to pose the greatest threat to the advancement of rational societies, Liberating the Mind reveals a way forward. Dissecting the core of how humans naturally learn, think, and chose to act, internationally recognized critical thinking leader Linda Elder illuminates root causes of dysfunctional thought and shows us how to free ourselves from both selfishness and groupthink through explicit tools of rationality. This instant intellectual classic offers a cohesive, integrated theory of mind that takes into account pathological tendencies shared by all humans, while offering a clear path toward the cultivation of fairminded critical thinking throughout the world. Elder illuminates how, by taking the intrinsic problems in our thinking seriously, we can follow the example of Socrates and live the examined life, even in times of upheaval and doubt.
The Need for Critical Thinking and the Scientific Method The book exposes many of the misunderstandings about the scientific method and its application to critical thinking. It argues for a better understanding of the scientific method and for nurturing critical thinking in the community. This knowledge helps the reader to analyze issues more objectively, and warns about the dangers of bias and propaganda. The principles are illustrated by considering several issues that are currently being debated. These include anthropogenic global warming (often loosely referred to as climate change), dangers to preservation of the Great Barrier Reef, and the expansion of the gluten-free food market and genetic engineering.
Open to Think : Slow Down, Think Creatively and Make Better Decisions While it may not occur to us on a daily basis, there is a widespread cultural tendency toward quick decisions and quick action. This pattern has resulted in many of our society's greatest successes, but even more of its failures. Though the root cause is by no means malicious, we have begun to reward speed over quality, and the negative effects suffered in both our personal and professional lives are potentially catastrophic.Best-selling author and Chief Envisioner Dan Pontefract offers the solution to this predicament with what he coins "Open Thinking," a cyclical process in which creativity is encouraged, critiquing leads to better decisions, and thoughtful action delivers positive, sustainable results. He proposes a return to balance between the three components of productive thought: dreaming, deciding, and doing.Based on organizational and societal data, academic research, historical studies, and a wide range of interviews, Open to Think is an appeal for a world of better thinking. Pontefract introduces tangible, actionable strategies to improve the way we think as organizations and individuals.
A Practical Guide to Critical Thinking A thoroughly updated introduction to the concepts, methods, and standards of critical thinking, A Practical Guide to Critical Thinking: Deciding What to Do and Believe, Second Edition is a unique presentation of the formal strategies used when thinking through reasons and arguments in many areas of expertise. Pursuing an interdisciplinary approach to critical thinking, the book offers a broad conception of critical thinking and explores the practical relevance to conducting research across fields such as, business, education, and the biological sciences. Applying rigor when necessary, the Second Edition maintains an informal approach to the fundamental core concepts of critical thinking. With practical strategies for defining, analyzing, and evaluating reasons and arguments, the book illustrates how the concept of an argument extends beyond philosophical roots into experimentation, testing, measurement, and policy development and assessment. Featuring plenty of updated exercises for a wide range of subject areas, A Practical Guide to Critical Thinking Deciding What to Do and Believe, Second Edition also includes: Numerous real-world examples from many fields of research, which reflect the applicability of critical thinking in everyday life New topical coverage, including the nature of reasons, assertion and supposing, narrow and broad definitions, circumstantial reasons, and reasoning about causal claims Selected answers to various exercises to provide readers with instantaneous feedback to support and extend the lessons A Practical Guide to Critical Thinking Deciding What to Do and Believe, Second Edition is an excellent textbook for courses on critical thinking and logic at the undergraduate and graduate levels as well as an appropriate reference for anyone with a general interest in critical thinking skills.
The Thinker's Guide to Analytic Thinking : How to Take Thinking Apart and What to Look for When You Do The Thinker's Guide to Analytic Thinking explores the practice of analyzing problems and opportunities and provides a framework for finding common denominators, inconsistencies, biases, and underlying causes. It helps readers learn to think within the logic of subjects and professions. By offering proper tools for analysis and assessment of thought, it empowers readers to address any decision with confidence. As part of the Thinker's Guide Library, this book advances the mission of the Foundation for Critical Thinking to promote fairminded critical societies through cultivating essential intellectual abilities and virtues across every field of study across world.
The Thinker's Guide to Fallacies : The Art of Mental Trickery and Manipulation The Thinker's Guide to Fallacies introduces the concept of mental trickery and shows readers how to discern and see through forty-four different types of fallacies. Focusing on how human self-deception and manipulation lie behind fallacies, this guide builds reasoning skills and promotes fairminded, logical thought, discussions, and debate. As part of the Thinker's Guide Library, this book advances the mission of the Foundation for Critical Thinking to promote fair-minded critical societies through cultivating essential intellectual abilities and virtues across every field of study across world.
The Thinker's Guide to Socratic Questioning The Thinker's Guide to the Art of Socratic Questioning introduces readers to powerful methods of inquiry that pinpoint underlying beliefs and systems of logic. Bringing together the principles of critical thinking, Richard Paul and Linda Elder illuminate the practicality and accessibility of Socratic questioning for revealing and solving problems in thought. Teachers, students and professionals will find in this book essential questioning strategies for reasoning within any field of study or endeavor. As part of the Thinker's Guide Library, this book advances the mission of the Foundation for Critical Thinking to promote fairminded critical societies through cultivating essential intellectual abilities and virtues across every field of study across world.
Thinking Critically in College The Essential Handbook for Student Success Finally, a college prep book that actually prepares students for college! Almost all first-year college students discover that college courses are more academically challenging than they expected, and certainly harder than classes in high school. Professors expect students not just to absorb material, but to analyze and synthesize it, consider multiple perspectives, evaluate conflicting evidence, and then apply what they've learned in new contexts. Thinking Critically in College explains how to do all this and more. Written in a personal, engaging style, Thinking Critically in College explains how to do the work your professors will require—exactly the preparation you need, no matter what your academic background. Practical, accessible, comprehensive, and interactive, Thinking Critically in College is the definitive guide, not only for those in college or headed there, but for everyone who needs a refresher on thinking clearly.
Think Smarter : Critical Thinking to Improve Problem-Solving and Decision-Making Skills Train your brain for better decisions, problem solving, and innovation Think Smarter: Critical Thinking to Improve Problem-Solving and Decision-Making Skills is the comprehensive guide to training your brain to do more for you. Written by a critical thinking trainer and coach, the book presents a pragmatic set of tools to apply critical thinking techniques to everyday business issues. Think Smarter is filled with real world examples that demonstrate how the tools work in action, in addition to dozens of practice exercises applicable across industries and functions, Think Smarter is a versatile resource for individuals, managers, students, and corporate training programs. Thinking is the foundation of everything you do, but we rely largely on automatic thinking to process information, often resulting in misunderstandings and errors. Shifting over to critical thinking means thinking purposefully using a framework and toolset, enabling thought processes that lead to better decisions, faster problem solving, and creative innovation. Think Smarter provides clear, actionable steps toward improving your critical thinking skills, plus exercises that clarify complex concepts by putting theory into practice. Features include: A comprehensive critical thinking framework Over twenty-five "tools" to help you think more critically Critical thinking implementation for functions and activities Examples of the real-world use of each tool Learn what questions to ask, how to uncover the real problem to solve, and mistakes to avoid. Recognize assumptions your can rely on versus those without merit, and train your brain to tick through your mental toolbox to arrive at more innovative solutions. Critical thinking is the top skill on the wish list in the business world, and sharpening your ability can have profound affects throughout all facets of life. Think Smarter: Critical Thinking to Improve Problem-Solving and Decision-Making Skills provides a roadmap to more effective and productive thought.
Tools for Critical Thinking in Biology The American Association for the Advancement of Science's report on Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education suggests that instructors "can no longer rely solely on trying to cover a syllabus packed with topics" but rather should "introduce fewer concepts but present them in greater depth." They further suggest that the principles embodied in a set of core concepts and competencies should be the basis for all undergraduate biology courses, including those designed for nonmajors. The theme of Tools for Critical Thinking in Biology will be the first and most fundamental of these competencies: the ability to apply the process of science. Biology courses and curricula must engage students in how scientific inquiry is conducted, including evaluating and interpreting scientific explanations of the natural world. The book uses diverse examples to illustrate how experiments work, how hypotheses can be tested by systematic and comparative observations when experiments aren't possible, how models are useful in science, and how sound decisions can be based on the weight of evidence even when uncertainty remains. These are fundamental issues in the process of science that are important for everyone to understand, whether they pursue careers in science or not. Where other introductory biology textbooks are organized by scientific concepts, Tools for Critical Thinking in Biology will instead show how methods can be used to test hypotheses in fields as different as ecology and medicine, using contemporary case studies. The book will provide students with a deeper understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of such methods for answering new questions, and will thereby change the way they think about the fundamentals of biology.

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Critical Thinking, Science, and Pseudoscience: why we can't trust our brains This unique text for undergraduate courses teaches students to apply critical thinking skills across all academic disciplines by examining popularpseudoscientific claims through a multidisciplinary lens. Rather than merely focusing on critical thinking, the text incorporates the perspectives ofpsychology, biology, physics, medicine, and other disciplines to reinforce different categories of rational explanation. Accessible and engaging, itdescribes what critical thinking is, why it is important, and how to learn and apply skills that promote it. The text also examines why critical thinkingcan be difficult to engage in and explores the psychological and social reasons why people are drawn to and find credence in extraordinary claims. From alien abductions and psychic phenomena to strange creatures and unsupported alternative medical treatments, the text uses examples from a wide rangeof pseudoscientific fields and brings evidence from diverse disciplines to critically examine erroneous claims. Particularly timely is the text' sexamination of how, using the narrative of today' s ' culture wars, ' religion and culture impact science. The authors focus on how the human brain, rife withnatural biases, does not process information in a rational fashion, and the social factors that prevent individuals from gaining an unbiased, criticalperspective on information. Authored by a psychologist and a philosopher who have extensive experience teaching and writing on critical thinking andskeptical inquiry, this work will help students to strengthen their skills in reasoning and debate, become intelligent consumers of research, and makewell-informed choices as citizens. KEY FEATURES: Addresses the foundations of critical thinking and how to apply it through the popular activity of examining pseudoscience Explains why humans are vulnerable to pseudoscientific claims and how critical thinking can overcome fallacies and biases Reinforces critical thinking through multidisciplinary analyses of pseudoscience Enlightens using an engaging, entertaining approach Features teaching resources including an Instructor' s Guide and PowerPoint slides
A field guide to lies : critical thinking in the information age Winner of the National Business Book Award From the New York Times bestselling author of The Organized Mind and This Is Your Brain on Music, a primer to the critical thinking that is more necessary now than ever  We are bombarded with more information each day than our brains can process--especially in election season. It's raining bad data, half-truths, and even outright lies. New York Times bestselling author Daniel J. Levitin shows how to recognize misleading announcements, statistics, graphs, and written reports, revealing the ways lying weasels can use them. It's becoming harder to separate the wheat from the digital chaff. How do we distinguish misinformation, pseudo-facts, and distortions from reliable information? Levitin groups his field guide into two categories--statistical information and faulty arguments--ultimately showing how science is the bedrock of critical thinking. Infoliteracy means understanding that there are hierarchies of source quality and bias that variously distort our information feeds via every media channel, including social media. We may expect newspapers, bloggers, the government, and Wikipedia to be factually and logically correct, but they so often aren't. We need to think critically about the words and numbers we encounter if we want to be successful at work, at play, and in making the most of our lives. This means checking the plausibility and reasoning--not passively accepting information, repeating it, and making decisions based on it. Readers learn to avoid the extremes of passive gullibility and cynical rejection. Levitin's charming, entertaining, accessible guide can help anyone wake up to a whole lot of things that aren't so. And catch some weasels in their tracks!   
Rationality : what it is, why it seems scarce, why it matters NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "In our uncertain age, which can so often feel so dark and disturbing, Steven Pinker has distinguished himself as a voice of positivity." - New York Times Can reading a book make you more rational? Can it help us understand why there is so much irrationality in the world? Steven Pinker, author of Enlightenment Now (Bill Gates's "new favorite book of all time") answers all the questions here Today humanity is reaching new heights of scientific understanding--and also appears to be losing its mind. How can a species that developed vaccines for Covid-19 in less than a year produce so much fake news, medical quackery, and conspiracy theorizing?   Pinker rejects the cynical cliché that humans are simply irrational--cavemen out of time saddled with biases, fallacies, and illusions. After all, we discovered the laws of nature, lengthened and enriched our lives, and set out the benchmarks for rationality itself.  We actually think in ways that are sensible in the low-tech contexts in which we spend most of our lives, but fail to take advantage of the powerful tools of reasoning we've discovered over the millennia: logic, critical thinking, probability, correlation and causation, and optimal ways to update beliefs and commit to choices individually and with others. These tools are not a standard part of our education, and have never been presented clearly and entertainingly in a single book--until now.    Rationality also explores its opposite: how the rational pursuit of self-interest, sectarian solidarity, and uplifting mythology can add up to crippling irrationality in a society. Collective rationality depends on norms that are explicitly designed to promote objectivity and truth.    Rationality matters. It leads to better choices in our lives and in the public sphere, and is the ultimate driver of social justice and moral progress. Brimming with Pinker's customary insight and humor, Rationality will enlighten, inspire, and empower.
Study and Critical Thinking Skills in College For Study Skills and Critical Thinking courses. A unique integration of study and critical-thinking skills to help students succeed Study and Critical Thinking Skills in College, Eighth Edition aligns closely with the ways students read, study, learn, think, and network in the twenty-first century. McWhorter discusses the active strategies that develop students' proficiency with text and lecture material, emphasizing that students must adapt how they read and how they study to suit the characteristics of each unique academic discipline. Study and Critical Thinking Skills in College also encourages students to study and think in ways that match their learning styles and to use technologies (such as online databases and social media) that maximize their productivity.
Think Before You Like: Social Media's Effect on the Brain and the Tools You Need to Navigate Your Newsfeed Guy P. Harrison, an upbeat advocate of scientific literacy and positive skepticism, demonstrates how critical thinking can enhance the benefits of social media while giving users the skills to guard against its dangers. Social media has more than two billion users and continues to grow. Its widespread appeal as a means of staying in touch with friends and keeping up with daily news masks some serious pitfalls-misinformation, pseudoscience, fraud, propaganda, and irrational beliefs, for example, presented in an attractive, easy-to-share form. This book will teach you how to resist the psychological and behavioral manipulation of social media and avoid the mistakes that millions have already made and now regret. Harrison presents scientific studies that show why your subconscious mind loves social media and how that can work against your ability to critically evaluate information. Among other things, social media reinforces your biases, clouds your judgment with images that leave a false impression, and fills your brain with anecdotes that become cheap substitutes for objective data. The very nature of the technology keeps you in a bubble; by tracking your preferences it sends only filtered newsfeeds, so that you rarely see anything that might challenge your set notions. Harrison explores the implications of having digital friends and the effects on mood, self-esteem, and the cultivation of friendship in the real world. He discusses how social media affects attention spans and the ability to consider issues in depth. He also suggests ways to protect yourself against privacy invasion, cyberstalking, biased misinformation, catfishing, trolls, misuse of photos, and the confusion over fake news versus credible journalism.