Don’t believe everything you see

In a world dominated by information everywhere you look, it is of utmost importance we all learn to question things we see and make sure we still think for ourselves. 

Social media and the internet can make it challenging to form our own thoughts, whether we realize it or not. Information spreads like wildfire and it is our job to fact-check it and to form our own opinions. Creating skepticism is a healthy habit and should not be something that we, as students forget about. 

As college students, knowing where to look and where not to look for information is a step in the right direction. Media outlets often have many agendas and that is an easy thing to forget about. If we know what these outlets are trying to push, this will help us question their information and their opinions about it. We should also make sure to check credible sources when we see information. 

Another thing we need to do is not follow the crowd. Oftentimes, students will believe what is popular and what their peers believe in. This is a habit that we need to break away from. 

Creating our own thought process and standing up for what we believe in is great. Having the personal integrity to create our own values and principles is paramount. It brings self-worth and builds character. 

Having authenticity and being true to ourselves is a very valuable trait and can bring us places that we wouldn’t have reached prior. Authenticity could land jobs that didn’t seem feasible, tighten relationships and could also bring upon new relationships. 

Another key thing is to keep an open mind. This ties in with the rest because people should learn to listen to others and hear each other out. This is a very important skill. When people listen to one another, conversations are more interesting and people can gain from one another. The last thing we should not be doing is getting upset or mad when we hear different opinions than our own. Everyone has a stance and sometimes, it is valuable to hear it. 

Use these few years of college to learn. We should learn how to question information, learn to be skeptical and find stuff out for ourselves, learn to be our own person, preach our morals and hear one another out. These things may just benefit us if we all learn these skills. Most of us are only in college for a few years. These things should be honed in now so when we are in the real world, we can use these skills to our benefit.