The age of a fast world, slow thinking, and deception

Humanity has never possessed so much knowledge in its history, yet it has never thought so little.

Information has become like an ocean boundless, deep, and all encompassing. Yet most of those who navigate this ocean do not even know how salty the water is. The people of the 21st century read, watch, and share, but they do not question. They are amazed by the quantity of information, yet blind to its essence.

In the modern era, being “right” is no longer determined by facts, but by clicks and shares. The mindset of “whoever is most visible is the one who is right” has already become a social norm. Truth cedes its place to noise, while thinking retreats into silence. Every day, thousands of news items, hundreds of opinions, and countless trends invade our minds, yet we accept them without analysis. As a result, humans choose the comfort of believing over the freedom to choose.

The most dangerous aspect of this situation is that deception is no longer an individual mistake. It has become a collective experience. Every lie circulating on social media, television, or news portals turns into truth the more it is repeated. People find comfort in believing the lie rather than exposing it. Disbelief demands thinking, questioning, and unease, whereas belief is as effortless as going with the flow.

What we today call the “information chaos” is not a technological problem, but a problem of consciousness. The flow of information is so powerful that the individual mind cannot filter it. Everyone talks about everything, yet no one fully understands what they are saying. As a consequence, societies drift into a reality that is “rich in knowledge, but poor in understanding.”

In this era where truth is fragmented, manipulation no longer relies solely on information, but on emotion. People believe in feelings more than facts, choosing what is pleasant over what is true. This is the quietest tragedy of the post-truth era: misinformation does not merely confuse us. It distances us from our own thinking.

It is no longer evidence that proves who is right or wrong, it is the one who speaks most convincingly who prevails. Thought transforms into a spectacle, while truth fades into the scenery. Those who govern the information society are often not ideological leaders, but algorithmic ones.

And perhaps the question is this: amid such an overwhelming abundance of information, why do we still know so little?

One of the greatest paradoxes of the 21st century is that the proliferation of information coincides with a decline in understanding. Contemporary humans are surrounded by more knowledge than ever in history, yet they have never been more bewildered. With a single click, millions of news items, opinions, and analyses confront us, yet within this abundance, truth has become nearly invisible. Truth seems fragmented, with each fragment shaped by a group, an ideology, or an algorithm.

Zygmunt Bauman described this condition through his concept of “liquid modernity”: reality is not fixed, it flows and constantly changes. The flow of information directs humans within this liquid state, but it also deprives them of the capacity for deep thinking. People read not to understand, but to keep up. As a result, understanding is replaced by impression.

Every trending topic on social media draws collective attention for a while, only to vanish abruptly. Events that yesterday absorbed all societal energy are forgotten today. This rapid flux erodes collective memory. Instead of thinking sequentially, people tend to believe impulsively. Truth loses its depth, and humans lose their bearings.

In the structure of the modern media system, speed has become a value. Whoever shares the news first wins but in this race, accuracy is the casualty. Information is shared without verification, and repetition turns it into perceived truth. The mindset of “if everyone shares it, it must be true” has become a social reflex. The sociological consequence is dangerous: mass belief suppresses individual thought.

This is precisely where the notion of the post-truth era emerges. Facts are no longer the most persuasive, emotions are. To convince people, proof is secondary to feelings. This blurs the boundary between reality and falsehood. Truth is no longer objective. It becomes whatever a side believes it to be. In this way, as information multiplies, reality itself becomes scarce.

Within this chaos, society exhibits a peculiar psychological adaptation: people have become indifferent to distorted news. They are no longer surprised by false information, for the mindset of “everyone is like this” has taken hold. The loss of truth is no longer a tragedy. It has become ordinary.

Sociologist Neil Postman argued that we are no longer experiencing an “information famine,” but an “information glut.” We consume so much that nothing is truly digested. This mental “cognitive clogging” deepens the gap between the abundance of information and the quality of thought.

Thus, information chaos disrupts not only the media landscape but also the mental order of individuals. Millions of people, each believing in their own version of truth, inhabit the same reality yet live in different worlds. This is a form of quiet social fragmentation: no one wages war, yet everyone is deceived simultaneously. This is collective deception.

Deception is sometimes not an individual weakness but a social instinct. People often choose the opinion of the majority over truth out of fear of being alone. The phrase “everyone says so” frequently becomes the strongest argument. This is not merely an informational error but a psychological defense mechanism.

In social psychology, this is known as the conformity effect: individuals feel secure by aligning with the behaviors and beliefs of those around them. In Solomon Asch’s famous 1951 experiment, participants repeatedly gave obviously wrong answers under the influence of a majority giving the same incorrect response. In other words, people sometimes believe not what they see, but what others around them see.

This phenomenon now repeats on a larger scale on social media. The notions of “trending” and “viral” are, in fact, technological forms of modern mass psychology. When a topic is widely shared, people automatically assume it to be true. Even if the source is dubious, the confidence of the crowd suppresses individual doubt. As Jean Baudrillard observed, this is a state of hyperreality: lies are repeated so often that they appear more real than reality itself.

The power of collective deception lies in the fact that it speaks not in the language of reason, but of emotion. Humans accept feelings, not facts. Anger, fear, compassion, or national pride do not serve to verify information. They serve to believe it. If a false story is disseminated by “our side,” it ceases to be considered false. Unconsciously, people measure truth against their identity, resulting in a world defined not by facts, but by sides.

Collective deception also provides social comfort. Within a believing crowd, an individual is relieved of the responsibility to think independently. Gustave Le Bon already explained this in the 19th century in his work The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind within the crowd, the individual loses the capacity for critical thought and acts through emotional reflexes. Today, this mechanism operates not on the streets, but behind screens.

Modern deception is no longer the work of shouting leaders, but of silently operating algorithms. Individuals believe they have found the news themselves, yet it is presented in such a way that disbelief becomes nearly impossible. Every intriguing post shown on social networks is selected according to the person’s prior views, placing them in an echo chamber that validates their beliefs. As a result, they see only what they wish to believe and construct their personal reality around the lie they want to accept.

The most dangerous aspect of this phenomenon is that during collective deception, correcting a lie with facts becomes ineffective. Facts no longer carry the emotional weight required to persuade. Once people believe emotionally, that belief takes root more deeply than rational argument. Subsequent evidence often provokes aggression because the fact is perceived not as a correction, but as a threat to personal conviction.

Thus, what is called “collective intelligence” increasingly transforms into collective deception. Among individuals, diversity of thought gives way to unity of emotion. Everyone feels the same, believes the same, and shares the same falsehood. This is not social harmony, but social silence: everyone speaks, yet no one truly thinks.

Collective deception is not merely a mass error. It reflects society’s lack of confidence in itself. Individuals no longer say, “I know,” but rather, “everyone says so.” At this tipping point, independent thought disappears, and truth is once again postponed. Yet, like all chaos, there is a way out. The problem is not merely the abundance of information. It is how individuals and society receive it. The ability to discern truth, question, and think must be relearned as a skill.

At the individual level, the most crucial step is critical thinking. One must not automatically accept information upon first encounter. It is necessary to question: Is the source reliable? Is the purpose to evoke emotion or to provide information? Am I simply influenced by repetition, or am I making a judgment based on my own analysis?

At the social level, the issue becomes even more complex. Individuals are not only passive readers but also agents of social influence. A single post, comment, or reaction carries not just personal, but collective consequences. On social media, people often amplify emotional responses rather than enhance thoughtful reflection. Manuel Castells’ concept of “social resistance within the information society” is particularly relevant here. The individual must be not just a passive consumer but an analytical and selective subject.

The role of technology is also undeniable. Algorithms and filter bubbles shape the information a person sees, yet technology can also be employed as a tool for education and transparency. Fact-checking platforms, ethical social media practices, and tools to break through filter bubbles serve the development of both individual and collective consciousness.

Emotional intelligence is equally critical. Humans are guided not only by facts, but by feelings. Recognizing and managing anger, fear, and surprise helps distinguish truth from manipulation. In this way, information ethics and emotional intelligence complement one another: the individual selects accurate information and understands the social consequences of sharing it.

Ultimately, information chaos and collective deception are not merely individual errors, but problems of societal consciousness. Yet there is a way forward: when critical thinking, social responsibility, technological transparency, and emotional intelligence converge, both individuals and society become stewards of understanding rather than mere consumers of data. Truth is strengthened not by facts alone, but by analyzed and questioned knowledge. This approach restores both informational clarity and healthy consciousness at personal and social levels.

Thus, the solution is not simply to “stop being deceived,” but to adopt a strategy for thinking and living in the modern era. The individual no longer merely reads information. They question, share, and interpret it. Society, in turn, does not passively receive news, but evaluates the social and emotional impact of every fact before forming judgments. This constitutes the greatest resistance and the most reliable defense in the age of information.

Nigar Shahverdiyeva
Sociologist, Research Writer