how to read critically in the age of bad media literacy

We need better media literacy in this

country.

>> Majority of the population lacks

critical thinking skills.

>> Don't have reading comprehension skills.

>> Turns out none of you guys can read.

>> Jenzie can't read.

>> The elite college students who can't

read books.

>> I lost the ability to read.

>> I know y'all scam when you read.

Reading that are like I just read to

turn my brain off. I don't think

critically about what I read. and any

form of literary discussion is moving

away from deep analysis. Now we've got a

media literacy crisis.

[Music]

Okay, but why should you want to read

critically? I think my main reason might

be a controversial one, but it's

actually just because it's fun. Many

people have this idea that reading

critically is hard or boring. Maybe you

don't even read at all because you're

kind of intimidated by it. But here's

the thing. Imagine that it is a hot,

sweltering summer day and you have the

choice between either dipping your toe

in a lake or just completely waiting in

the cooling water, making waves, playing

mermaids.

Which one would you choose? Reading

critically is like completely submersing

yourself in that lake. It is just the

better experience. You get so much more

out of the story. Maybe you're thinking,

"No, Leo, it's just too hard for me.

Like, I probably can't do that." No,

stop thinking that. You can. Okay, big

tech would love for you to believe that

you cannot think critically and that you

just want to turn your brain off and

doom scroll the whole day. Okay, there

are many people out there that would

love for you to believe that you have

nothing interesting to say, but today

I'm going to show you that engaging

critically with the books that you read

is actually fun and easy to do. We're

going to make sure together that you get

the most out of the books that you read

and just let it be your escape of the

crazy internet.

And now I'm going to get out of this

forest before someone sees me and looks

at me awkwardly.

Yeah, wearing my artsy oversized shirt

to really show you that I'm an

intellectual. Hello everyone. My name is

Leani. As of this month, I've been

making book reviews on the internet for

10 years.

That's a very long time. And I want to

share my thoughts and insights. So, I'm

going to share with you five steps

towards reading critically. And then at

the end I will also give you some

general media literacy tips because of

course this is all part of like a wider

conversation about the need for media

literacy also on the internet or for

articles that you read or for films that

you watch. I am not an English major or

a literature major at all. Also, I'm

sure that there are very specific

academically approved rules to

approaching media analysis and

literature comparison, and that is not

what I can share with you. But like I

said, I want to keep this video

approachable. I just want to share what

I do so you can kind of mix and match it

and fit it to your own style and what

you like to do. Because again, the whole

point of this in the end is to make your

enjoyment, your experience of reading a

little bit richer. But before we get

comfortable with more critical reading,

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very cute socks. Okay, the first of the

five steps is actually step zero and

that is that critical reading is not

about the type of books you read. It is

about how you read them. talking about

reading critically and like the lack of

critical reading in media literacy is

very trendy on the internet right now on

Tik Tok on YouTube but I'm kind of

sensing this vibe that when people are

kind of trying to combat this they do it

in the style of like oh you want to read

more critically read these books and

then it's not like books about critical

reading but just like standard classics

like oh you should start with you know

the classic ones that I keep talking

about all the time it's always kimu or

dustki that they recommend. It's always

like here start with these classic books

so you can read more critically but that

you know read being critical for a

second and that's a fallacy. Reading

critically is something you can do to

any book that you read. Picking up a

book just because it makes you seem more

intellectual and critical will probably

even put you more at the risk of not

reading it critically at all because

you're just reading it for the expected

end result of having read the book

instead of actually engaging with the

book and the story itself. So that is my

step zero is to pick up any book that

you like, literally anything, and you

can start implementing the rest of the

steps that I'm going to give you. I'm

even going to allow Colleen Hoover here.

Okay. And I just really wanted to

emphasize that because I think if you

consume a lot of content about like

brain rot and the lack of critical

reading, you really start to think that

this is somehow your own fault. Like

there's something wrong with your brain.

It has rotted away. You're not reading

the right type of books. But I do think

it's important to I guess give a little

bit grace to yourself and to other

people that often there are like

societal failures that have led to this

point like educational failures where

people have not learned the right tools

to read more critically or think more

critically. There's a lack of source

transparency on the internet.

Information is going so fast nowadays.

You have no time to process anything.

Everyone is busy and overwhelmed all the

time. So, it can be hard to find the

energy to actually read a book. No need

to shame yourself. Let's all focus on

the fact that reading freely is going to

enrich your life. It's going to be fun.

It's not some kind of homework

assignment or something you just shame

yourself into because your brain has

rotten away. No, we are going to have

fun here. Okay. So, you got your book,

your book that you're going to think

you're going to enjoy reading. Um, and

let's move on to the actual steps. Let's

start with step one to critical reading

and that is slow down. Why am I saying

slow down? Because actually I want you

to process what you're reading. Reading

critically in many ways is kind of the

antithesis to what reading has kind of

become on the internet. And that is

something that has a lot to do with

numbers. something that is very focused

on how many books you can read in a

year, how fast you can read. But that

should not be the end goal. The goal

should obviously be reading itself. It's

not about having read a book. It's about

reading a book. I'm not saying it's not

possible to read critically if you read

fast. I know a lot of people who are

very critical readers and they just

happen to read super fast and they read

hundreds of books every year. I'm not

one of those people, but I know that

those people exist. What I'm trying to

say that if you you yes watching this

video right now are on book talk a lot

or book a lot and you see a lot of these

people reading a ton of books it may

become very easy to think that that is

like the end goal that is the signifier

of being a good reader a critical reader

that you read a ton slow down okay that

is not the goal the goal here is to

actually process what you're reading

when you're reading it's not about

getting all those pages in sometimes s

you just read and then you kind of sit

and think. It's one of the main reasons

that I read so slowly is because when

I'm reading, I get constantly distracted

by my own thoughts because I'm reading

something and it makes me think of

something and then I start thinking

about it and then before I know it, I've

just been staring into space for a good

5 minutes thinking about what I've been

reading, which I actually like because

it it means I'm engaging with the book

itself. Don't try to focus too much on

reading goals. Again, I'm not against

the reading goal. I'm not against people

who read really fast. If the reading

goal helps you to pick up a book when

you're not reading, that is great. But

if a reading goal is kind of causing you

to mostly pick up short books or easier

to read books or avoiding certain books

because you know they're not going to

help you quickly go towards that reading

goal, then you need to start taking a

step back and reconsider what you're

doing. One of the main reason people

nowaday are not processing what they're

reading or consuming in general is

because we are just consuming so much

information, so much data all day, every

day, all the time. It is absolutely

impossible for your brain to process all

of that. So if you want to actually

process what you are reading, you need

to be intentional with it. You need to

slow down and not let it get gobbled up

in the sea of all the things that you

are consuming in the day. One of the

greatest ways to slow down when you're

reading is to actually make annotations.

And I could make an entire video about

how I annotate my books and that is

exactly what I will be doing. So look

forward to that. I am going to make an

entire video dedicated to slowing down

by reading and making annotations. Step

two to critical reading is be aware of

your own subjectivity. I think a lot of

people who get into reading critically

forget this because they think if I'm

reading critically then I am the

objective person. I'm the objective

opinion about all books everywhere. You

are not. A book can mean something

different to different people and that

is what is so great about them. Yes,

there are some more objective ways that

you can look at a book and there are

more subjective ways. So, how are you

going to differentiate between them? I

have a few tips. First, you must

establish what your subjective opinion

actually is. What do you like? What are

your faves? For example, when I'm

reading a book, I am very aware of the

fact that I just really enjoy

fantastical elements. I really enjoy a

dark, creepy vibe. As soon as a book has

atmosphere like that, I am way more

likely to enjoy it. I know very like

weirdly specifically I like it when

books contain themes of mist

or cannibalism or mushrooms. That's

super random, but I know that those

things are more likely to make me enjoy

a book. And I'm aware of that and I know

that that is very specific to me.

Another simple trick to become more

aware of your subjectivity is to just

ask yourself, would my dad like this

book? Would my sister like this book?

Would my high school English teacher

enjoy this book? It helps you kind of

step away from your own thoughts and

think about what other people might

enjoy or not enjoy about the same book.

For example, you may know like, oh, I

really didn't like this book because it

was just super plot focused, but I have

this friend who really loves plotbased

stories with more action and a little

less character focused, so I think she

would probably really enjoy this book.

Okay, so your opinion is subjective.

Does that mean you can just never have

an opinion about anything ever or that

there's no way to be critical about a

book ever? No, of course not. I would

personally translate it to three

different lenses that you can use to

look at a book. The personal lens, the

critical lens, and the cultural

contextual lens. The personal lens

speaks for itself. How do I feel when

I'm reading this book? What do I like

about this book? Does it have any tropes

or genres that I personally just really

enjoy or really hate? I think that is

this lens that is very prominent on book

talk and just general uh book reviewing

on the internet. Then we have the

critical lens where you go a little bit

more objective, not actually objective,

but you go a little bit more into the

technicalities of the writing. Maybe the

personal lens really loved the book, but

the critical lens can say, "Okay, but

was it actually that good?" When I read

Fourth Wing, my personal lens said,

"That was incredibly fun. I had a great

time." But my critical lens said, "Okay,

but all of the side characters were

formulaic. They didn't have any layers.

The world building didn't have any

layers. That is the critical lens. It is

asking yourself, what is the goal of

this book? And did it succeed at that

goal? Were these characters

well-developed? Did the author actually

show any good craftsmanship in their

writing? I think that is this lens that

is mostly associated with traditional

book criticism and book reviewing. But

in my personal opinion, I think the

personal and the critical lens, they

always go together. You can't really

separate them. You're always going to be

influenced by your personal biases and

your personal taste. And then the third

lens I personally think is the most fun

cuz I think it sparks the most

conversation and that is the cultural

contextual lens. How does this book fit

into the broader genre? For example,

Babel by RF Kuang is a dark academia

novel that is very clearly kind of a

response to typical dark academia novels

like The Secret History. How does this

book fit into the cultural context? For

example, romance novels tend to

perpetuate a certain view on gender

roles. Why and how did I hear about this

book? For example, if you're reading

Colleen Hoover, you might think about

like, oh, why is she so popular on Tik

Tok specifically? You may know that

she's a controversial figure. Why is

that? Do I see that back in her books or

not? Who wrote it and why? What are

their limitations? 1984 is a great

example where your critical lens might

see that this is a book criticizing

authoritarian government, but your

cultural contextual lens will take into

account that this was written in the

1940s. It's not just about some random

madeup fictional future dystopian. It

was very clearly published right after

the Second World War and during the

Soviet Union, but also it is still very

clearly published in the ' 40s because

there are some very clear misogynistic

elements to that book. And this also

kind of brings me to another reason why

it is so important to read critically. I

mentioned in the intro mostly that it's

really fun and it will enrich your

experience of the books that you read

and that is still true. But I also just

in general think that it is a good idea

to be a critical citizen of society. To

learn to read more critically and engage

critically with all media that you

assume honestly will make you less

likely to fall for propaganda. It'll

help you form your own opinions instead

of just going with whatever the status

quo is. And that is really important to

protect yourself and also the people

around you. Step three, if you're

watching this and thinking, Leoni,

you're giving me all these steps, but I

just I need more concrete examples of

what exactly I can do. Okay, step three

is to just ask questions while you're

reading. And I simply made a list of

questions that you can ask yourself

while reading a book. Um, I don't mean

that you have to like sit there with

this this list next to you. They're just

for inspiration. These are questions

that I pretty much almost automatically

always kind of ask myself when I'm

reading. First of all, very obvious,

what is the author trying to say? What

is the main message and theme? Do we see

a worldview or ideology from the author

shining through into the story? And do

you agree with that worldview? And very

importantly, a message that a book gives

does not need to be intended by the

author. Even a simple fun romance story

exists in a cultural context. You know,

a really alpha romance story may not

have the intended message of saying men

need to be manly like this and women

need to be cuty. That may not be the

author's intention, but in the broader

context of our society where most

romance novels have those two gender

roles that perfectly mirror the gender

roles that we have in society, the

romance novel may certainly underline a

certain status quo. Another thing is to

ask yourself, does what happened in the

book actually fit the message of the

book? Example, in a lot of young adult

fantasy novels from like a few years

ago, there would be this like female

empowerment message. You know, there

would be like a female warrior. The

characters would say empowering things,

but at the end of the day, the female

character consistently got saved by the

male love interest. So, the things that

are happening in the story actually

contradict the message of female

empowerment. Another example is when you

have those not like other girls

characters from the 2010s that would say

like, "Oh, I don't like girly things. I

don't like wearing makeup. I'm one of

the boys." But then there would always

be a makeover scene and they would

always end up wearing like a beautiful

princess dress that contradicts the

theme of the story. So what the author

tries to say and what the book ends up

messaging may not always align. This is

also what death of the author is. Death

of the author is one of those things

that very often gets misqued or like

misexplained on the internet. But death

of the author simply means that whatever

the author intended with their work is

dead the moment that the work comes into

the world and readers are reading it and

interpreting it. Like an author may say,

"No, these two characters are not gay.

They are straight guys." But everyone

who reads the book can clearly see the

homoerotic tension between the two

characters. And now you have a thousand

fanfictions and a huge fandom. Death of

the author. Next. How does this book fit

into the literary period? Jane Austin's

books famously critique 19th century

high society social etiquette. How does

this book fit into greater literary

patterns? Like I said, there's a clear

pattern in the gender roles in most

romance novels. Most fantasy books tend

to have a certain hero's journey, a

certain type of character that is the

main character. Fairy tale retellings

obviously all follow certain patterns.

Does the book defy a genre in certain

way? Usually, if a book can break

certain genre rules or do something

differently from what most books are

doing, that is a sign of a very original

novel. If the book gets recommended on

Tik Tok a lot, you can ask yourself why.

How does this book fit into a Tik Tok

trend or why is this book so algorithm

friendly? Ooh, another important thing.

What is the goal of the book? What is

this book actually trying to do? Don't

go hating on a romanty novel for having

too much romance in it. Don't hate a

literary fiction about kind of shitty

people for having characters that are

too unlikable. It all comes back to

differentiating between that personal

lens and that critical lens. Like, did

you not like that character because they

were flat and poorly written or did you

just dislike that character because they

reminded you of that girl in high school

that was mean to you. Sometimes a book

is just not for you and that is okay.

Does it mean that it is objectively bad

and no one should read it? Some more

kind of personal questions you can ask

yourself. Why did I like this character?

Why did I dislike that character? Are

the plot twists actually plausible? For

example, when I read Fifth Season, the

plot twists in there were amazingly

foreshadowed, and if you reread the

book, you will see all the

foreshadowing. But I've also read books

where the plot twist comes and I'm like,

this is so far-fetched. Like, I don't

believe it. What makes me want to keep

reading this book? What makes me want to

pick this book up after I've put it

down? Is it the beautiful writing style

that you love? or is it more the edge on

your seat mystery? Like for example,

personally for me, I've noticed that

what really makes a book a page turner

for me is actually if there's a romance.

Like romance is like the number one

reason for me to speed through a book

because I just want to see the romance

get resolved. So I know for me

personally, speeding through a book is

not necessarily an accurate measurement

of how good I thought the book was.

There are books that take me super long

to read that I loved, but when I speed

through a book, it usually just means

that I was really invested in the

romance. What is keeping me from giving

this book five stars? What is keeping me

from reading this book one star? Again,

for me personally, I know that a

fivestar book is purely a personal

thing. Like a book just has to have a

certain juniqua. It just needs to hit a

certain nerve in my brain. But you might

have other reasons. And lastly, what

style of writing is this? Is it quick

and simple, or is it very lyrical and

flowery? And how does that fit the book?

For example, a lot of fairy tale

retellings tend to have this kind of

flowery writing style that really

creates atmosphere. But for example,

Sally Rooney very famously doesn't use

quotation marks in her dialogue.

Personally, she says that she doesn't

see the use of them, but I think that

they also aid her story because it takes

away a kind of imminence from her

dialogue. It makes it feel a little

detached with fits the type of

characters that she writes about. Okay,

that was a very long list. I will say I

think a mistake a lot of people make is

that they think that in order to read

critically the main thing that you need

to do is just find out the hidden

meaning of the book which don't get me

wrong is an interesting thing to think

about but it's also okay to focus on

other things. I personally really agree

with Susan SG's idea on this. She writes

about in her essay against

interpretation that sometimes when you

go only digging for the meaning behind

what you're seeing, you are kind of

excavating the work of art. You are just

taking it apart too much. It's good to

not only focus on the content of a book,

but also the form, the aesthetic part of

it. How does it make you feel? How do

you like the words? How do you like the

writing? Maybe even do you like how the

book is formatted? I guess we could

compare this to like the famous the

curtains are blue discourse. I don't

want to get into it too much, but the

meme was always like, "Oh, your English

teacher says no, the curtains weren't

just blue. It was a metaphor for their

sadness." And then the memes are like,

"No, maybe the curtains were just blue."

And nowadays there's a lot of discourse

of of people saying like, "Oh, that meme

really stopped people from thinking

critically because no, maybe the

curtains weren't just blue. Maybe there

really was a reason behind that." I

would say step one of critical thinking

is to think, "No, maybe really those

curtains were a metaphor for sadness and

depression." And then step two of

critical analysis would be like, "Yeah,

well maybe indeed the curtains were just

blue. Maybe I don't want to like dig

deeper into a meaning that isn't there.

But also, the curtains are blue is kind

of a shitty sentence.

That's a not a very well-ritten sentence

right there. My gosh. Oh, I really

didn't expect this video to be this

long. Anyway, we are moving on. Step

four, which I think is maybe the most

important one, and that is how to find

meaning into the book. Because we can

talk endlessly about how to read more

critically because whatever you're going

to seem so intellectual, but in the end,

the goal here is for you to really enjoy

the book and find meaning in it. Ask

yourself, what does this book mean to

you? Does it make you think of something

in your own life after you finished the

book? What have you learned? Has it

changed your perspective on anything? A

book doesn't need to be a philosophical

masterpiece to be meaningful to you

specifically. You can find meaning in

any story. A great example for me is the

Shadow and Bone series, which I've often

talked about not finding that good

anymore, but it was the very first

fantasy book that I ever read. So, it

has a lot of meaning to me. I will

cherish it forever as being my

introduction into big magic and like

other worlds. In the end, what the story

means to you personally is worth the

most. And it's a great opener for

conversations with others. If you're not

sure how to find meaning in the book

that you're reading, talk to others

about it. Talking to other people can

help you figure out your own thoughts

and it also helps you see that other

people have different perspectives.

Bringing it back to using those

different lenses to look at a book. Now,

where to talk to people about books?

Here's a few rapidfire ideas. Join a

book club in your local town. Join a

book club online. Start a buddy read

with a friend or even watch book or book

talk videos about the book. Actually

engage with those videos. comment on

them. Maybe even start making your own

videos so you can share all your

thoughts about the books that you're

reading and find an online community.

That's literally why I started this

channel 10 years ago because I have

thoughts about the books that I was

reading and I just wanted to share them

with other people. Now that you found

your personal meaning in this book and

you can talk about it to other people,

that brings us to our last and final

step. Step five, and that is how to have

to say something about the books you

read. Okay, so you're talking to other

people. What do you say? What do you

talk about? Now, if you follow the last

steps, you probably already formed your

own opinion. You already have something

critical say to say about the book. you

can already fit it into some cultural

context

right there. You have something to say

already. But here are just a few final

tips to help you having something to say

about the books that you read. Like I

mentioned before, the question of do you

agree with what the story is trying to

say is a perfect conversation starter.

Let's take it back to 1984.

If you've read that, you can see it's

anti- athoritarian message. Do you agree

with it? And why do you agree with it?

These are the kind of books that can

really start long and amazing

discussions. And secondly, I think my

the best tip on creating new ideas and

having opinions on things is just can

you connect it to something else? Can

you connect two separate ideas? For

example, Babel and Blood Over Bride

Haven are both books, fantasy books that

use fantasy to critique colonialism.

Connect those two. In what ways are they

doing it differently? In what ways are

they similar? You can talk about that.

Blood Over Bright Haven is a pretty much

a direct metaphor for exploitative

colonialism. That's you connecting the

book with colonialism. You can talk

about that. How do you connect what

happens in this book to things that

happen in real life? You can have a

conversation about that. Wow, you're

gonna be so smart and cool and make a

lot of friends talking about books. Oh.

Oh my gosh. Wow. Got a little too

excited there. Lastly, it's always okay

to just look up spark notes on a book.

Look up a video essay about it. See what

other people have written about the

book. See what other people have already

analyzed about it. You don't have to do

all of it yourself.

Okay, now that we have all these tips on

how to engage more with the books that

you read, I just wanted to end on some

general tips on media literacy. And

again, for the sake of media literacy, I

am of course not an expert on this. I am

just a person like you that is trying to

be a little bit more aware of the things

that I consume. And these are just the

things that I do or tips that I've

accumulated from other places over the

years that have really helped me be a

more conscious consumer. The first I

think the most basic thing that you can

do to increase your media literacy is to

check the source of what you're reading.

Where does it actually come from? Who is

saying it? That article you're reading,

that random thing that you found

somewhere on the internet, where is it

actually coming from? Does this Tik

Tocker actually know what they're saying

or are they just regurgitating something

they heard somewhere else on the

internet? What does the person that is

publishing this or saying this gain from

saying what they're saying? Sometimes

people have a very obvious political

agenda or they are backed by political

partners or they're sponsored. Even for

example, if I have a sponsored video

like this video, you have to understand

that I am being paid to say the things

that I'm saying. If we bring it back to

reading, obviously a positive review

from just a random person on the

internet, you would read differently

than a positive review from the

publisher themselves or like a friend

from the author because they have a

personal agenda in seeing something

positive about that book. And of course

nowadays maybe you can't even find the

source of the information that you're

reading. If you are getting your

information from an AI summary or from

Ched GBT, you don't even know what the

information where the information is

coming from. And it's really hard to be

critical of what you're reading if you

don't even know where the information is

coming from in the first place. It

always helps to ask yourself, who

benefits from making me believe this or

making me feel this way? It's always

good to kind of check your own emotional

response and be mindful of how you are

emotionally responding to whatever

you're reading. You know, are you

getting really angry at it? Is the piece

you're reading making you hate someone

else or something else? Is it making you

disgusted about something? any kind of

really big emotion honestly should give

you a little bit of pause and makes you

think

how is this person or this piece of

media benefiting from me responding this

way again if you are just watching an

amazing Netflix show and you are crying

in response obviously they benefit

because you are watching a show that is

really good apparently and is making you

very emotional but that not necessarily

a bad thing it's good that they benefit

benefit from your like intense response

to that beautiful deuce season of

Bridgetton. But if let's say it's a

political piece and it's making you

really angry at certain groups of

people,

you might want to rethink that. On the

internet, you will constantly see people

be extra outrageous in their opinion

just to rage bait or to get you to

actually watch the Tik Tok or the video

because they benefit if you feel a

little shocked or outraged by what they

are saying. So yeah, that is like law

number one for media analysis. Media

literacy is where is this information

coming from and who benefits from

sharing this information with the world.

With all the tips that I gave in the

rest of the video about like learning to

find the main message of a piece of

media, learning to find the main theme,

you could think to yourself, okay, and

then what is the point of bringing this

message into the world? Who benefits

from that? For example, you're watching

just a general Tik Tok recipe video,

which I do all the time, and then they

are extremely positive about a certain

kitchen utensil that they use and they

happen to have a link to that in their

Tik Tok shop.

Classic example, they benefit if they

say something positive cuz they'll make

money. Another great thing to ask

yourself is, what is missing in what I'm

seeing? It's easy to focus on what is in

front of you, the text or the video, but

what is actually not being said? Maybe

there are some important arguments that

are being left out that you can think of

yourself. Whose voices are being

centered and whose voices are left out

of the conversation. Comparing

perspectives is always a great idea. If

you just found out about something new

and interesting, read about it somewhere

else as well. That's how you get the

picture. That's how you make sure you

don't just get one biased perspective.

You have to compare different

perspectives so you can create your own

biased perspective. Another thing that I

always ask myself, especially when

reading non-fiction books or reading

essays on the internet is, is this based

on opinions or is this piece based on

facts? Because sometimes people mostly

speak from personal experience, which is

not a problem. You know, it could be a

personal essay, could be a personal

story, and sometimes people speak mostly

from source material, from science. You

have to learn to be able to

differentiate between is this someone's

personal theory that they are sharing

with me or are they sharing some kind of

like consensus in science right now? And

last but not least, can you find any

contradictions in what they're saying? I

always find this the most difficult,

especially if I'm reading or listening

to something that I don't know a lot

about. I find it hard to find

contradictions because I feel like I

personally don't even understand

everything yet about this topic. You

know, I'm just a beginner on it. I'm

just a lay man. Um, but if you can find

inconsistencies in what they're saying,

well,

you've you've won the medal of critical

reading. You've won media literacy. I

would say to me finding inconsistencies

requires already having a bit of

background info on it. Uh but some

people are really good at finding in

inconsistencies even if they don't yet

uh know anything about the topic

themselves.

It's hard. I'm working on it. Actually,

I have to admit here that I sometimes

find it really difficult to read

critically because I tend to assume that

oh, I don't really know anything. And

this this thing that I'm reading right

now or this thing that I'm watching,

they seem to know a lot about it. So,

I'm sure they know more than me. I have

this tendency when I spot an

inconsistency to just assume that I'm

just not understanding it correctly. And

I'm kind of learning over the years that

that is just not always true. That just

because you are reading something that

someone wrote down or filmed, especially

on social media, doesn't necessarily

mean that they know what they're talking

about. So you always have to remain

critical and I guess kind of have faith

in yourself that you can have something

to say about that as well. Also ask

yourself, who is the intended audience

here? Is this piece of media even

intended at me? Like I would never watch

like a big carnivore meateers recipe and

then get angry and comment and be like,

"Oh my god, but like I don't eat meat,

so what would I do?" You think I'm not

the intended audience? And then you move

on. Anyway, I could go on with this list

forever and ever, but in the end it is

mostly just going to come down to what

is the source? What is the agenda of the

source? And don't just believe anything

that you find on the internet.

Oh, I love that. I hope you made notes

on this video. There's going to be a

test at the end. I will be grading each

and every one of you individually.

In two weeks, I will come out with

another video kind of in concordance

with this video about annotating and

reading to slow down and making notes

for self-care. And there I will share

all of my note takingaking tips with you

guys. So, I'm really excited to start

making that video. Let me know in the

comments if you have any specific

questions about how I annotate and how I

note. If you comment them quickly, I can

still incorporate them in that video

hopefully. And that being said, I really

hope you enjoyed this video. I hope you

have a wonderful rest of your day and I

will see you soon in another video very

soon. Goodbye.

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