We Don't Think, We Just Consume.

Lately, I've been noticing something new in job interviews—candidates come in "prepared," but in a strange way. They get an hour to prepare, and they use it to pull as much information as possible from ChatGPT. Then they confidently present it to me. They mention a metric that, according to them, is crucial for evaluating advertising performance. But when I ask them what the metric actually tells us, they don’t know. They have no idea how to calculate it.

I've never had so many interviews where I had to teach candidates the meaning of a key metric in online advertising. Never.

But let’s be clear—this is not the same as when calculators were introduced. You can work with someone who doesn’t understand logarithms. But you can’t seriously discuss or collaborate with someone who doesn’t even understand which two numbers to divide to get meaningful insight in advertising. You just can’t.

And it’s not just interviews. More and more, I feel like real thinking is fading away. People don’t form their own ideas anymore; they just adopt prepackaged opinions that flood them from all directions. Information is instantly accessible, and it requires no effort from us.

Many believe they have broad knowledge because they follow multiple sources. But I have my doubts. Real thinking takes effort. Thinking deeply about something means spending time questioning, challenging established views, and arriving at your own conclusions.

When Even Criticism Is Just Another Form of Consumption

One of the strange things about our time is that even criticism has turned into a kind of consumption.

I see it clearly in debates on serious social issues – take Covid, for example. Entire crowds jumped into criticizing one expert opinion or another, often with great confidence, while having only a shallow understanding of the topic.

They felt the need to criticize, to take a stand – but without having arguments of their own. So they just adopted someone else’s critical take.

We repeat another person’s objections and feel like we’ve been thinking. But what we’ve really done is just accepted a different ready-made opinion. That’s not critical thinking.

I get the sense it’s connected to a fear of independent thinking.

Real thinking comes with risk. We might arrive at conclusions that are unpopular, or that don’t fit into any of the usual frameworks. Thinking outside the box risks being misunderstood, disagreed with – or even socially excluded.

The world has sped up. Instant reactions are expected.

People don’t have the time to sit down and think – because by the time they’d reach their own analysis, the internet has already moved on to a new topic.

Being slow means being outdated – and therefore irrelevant.

All of this creates an environment where it’s easier to consume and repeat than to create.

It’s not always easy to step out of this pattern, but it is possible.

It only takes small steps.

Like giving yourself time to think instead of reacting immediately.

Not rushing to form an opinion just to have something to say.

Asking yourself: where do my thoughts really come from?

Are they truly mine?

If you have any thoughts, questions, or feedback, feel free to drop me a message at mail@richardgolian.com.