At the end of the day, thinking for ourselves is hard. It takes time and often the stakes aren’t that high. I think that being a bit sceptic and cynic can help.

At the end of the day, thinking for ourselves is hard. It takes time and often the stakes aren’t that high. I think that being a bit sceptic and cynic can help. You don’t need to be born with those traits; you can acquire them with some practice. It’s an investment that is valuable especially when dealing with politics, or one’s career. There are always multiple sides to a story. Just try to get a grip of what each side is saying, and what their interests are. Then, gather data if you need to. Analyse it, reason about it, discuss it openly. I do it sometimes. Other times I just trust the source enough to let it go. Don’t put yourself in a silo. If you do, you’re surely thinking for yourself, but you could also be missing on something you didn’t consider. Edit: I guess that there’s also a biological side to it. It’s safer to go along with the mass. If not from an evolutionary perspective, it makes sense from a social one.