The web is an informational paradise and a hellscape at the same time.
网络是信息的天堂，同时也是地狱。
A boundless wealth of high-quality information is available at our fingertips right next to a ceaseless torrent of low-quality, distracting, false and manipulative information.
在我们唾手可得的无穷无尽的高质量信息的同时，低质量的、分散注意力的、虚假的和操纵性的信息洪流也在源源不断地涌入。
The platforms that control search were conceived in sin. Their business model auctions off our most precious and limited cognitive resource: attention. These platforms work overtime to hijack our attention by purveying information that arouses curiosity, outrage, or anger. The more our eyeballs remain glued to the screen, the more ads they can show us, and the greater profits accrue to their shareholders.
控制搜索的平台是在罪恶中诞生的。它们的商业模式拍卖的是我们最宝贵、最有限的认知资源：注意力。这些平台加班加点，通过传播引起好奇、愤怒或生气的信息来劫持我们的注意力。我们的眼球越是紧盯着屏幕，他们就能向我们展示越多的广告，他们的股东就能获得越丰厚的利润。
It is hardly surprising, therefore, all this should take a toll on our collective attention. A 2019 analysis of Twitter hashtags, Google queries, or Reddit comments found that across the past decade, the rate at which the popularity of items rises and drops has accelerated. In 2013, for example, a hashtag on Twitter was popular on average for 17.5 hours, while in 2016, its popularity faded away after 11.9 hours. More competition leads to shorter collective attention intervals, which lead to ever fiercer competition for our attention – a vicious circle.
因此，这一切对我们的集体注意力造成影响也就不足为奇了。2019 年对推特标签、谷歌查询或 Reddit 评论的分析发现，在过去十年中，项目流行度的上升和下降速度都在加快。例如，2013 年，Twitter 上的一个标签平均流行 17.5 小时，而 2016 年，其流行度在 11.9 小时后消退。竞争加剧导致集体关注时间缩短，进而导致对我们注意力的争夺愈演愈烈--这是一个恶性循环。
To regain control, we need cognitive strategies that help us reclaim at least some autonomy and shield us from the excesses, traps and information disorders of today’s attention economy.
为了重新获得控制权，我们需要一些认知策略，帮助我们至少找回一些自主权，使我们免受当今注意力经济的过度、陷阱和信息紊乱的影响。
Critical thinking is not enough
仅有批判性思维是不够的
The textbook cognitive strategy is critical thinking, an intellectually disciplined, self-guided and effortful process to help identify valid information. In school, students are taught to closely and carefully read and evaluate information. Thus equipped, they can evaluate the claims and arguments they see, hear, or read. No objection. The ability to think critically is immensely important.
教科书中的认知策略是批判性思维，它是一种智力约束、自我指导和努力的过程，有助于识别有效信息。在学校里，学生被教导要仔细认真地阅读和评估信息。这样，他们就能对看到、听到或读到的主张和论点进行评估。没有异议。批判性思维能力非常重要。
But is it enough in a world of information overabundance and gushing sources of disinformation? The answer is “No” for at least two reasons.
但是，在一个信息泛滥、虚假信息层出不穷的世界里，这样就够了吗？答案是 "不"，原因至少有两个。
First, the digital world contains more information than the world’s libraries combined. Much of it comes from unvetted sources and lacks reliable indicators of trustworthiness. Critically thinking through all information and sources we come across would utterly paralyse us because we would never have time to actually read the valuable information we painstakingly identify.
首先，数字世界所包含的信息比全世界图书馆的信息总和还要多。其中许多信息来源未经审查，缺乏可靠的可信度指标。对我们接触到的所有信息和来源进行批判性思考会让我们彻底瘫痪，因为我们根本没有时间去真正阅读我们费尽心机识别出来的有价值的信息。
Second, investing critical thinking in sources that should have been ignored in the first place means that attention merchants and malicious actors have been gifted what they wanted, our attention.
其次，将批判性思维投入到本应被忽视的信息来源中，意味着注意力商人和恶意行为者得到了他们想要的东西--我们的注意力。
Critical ignoring to make information management feasible
使信息管理切实可行的关键因素
So, what tools do we have at our disposal beyond critical thinking? In our recent article, we – a philosopher, two cognitive scientists and an education scientist – argue that as much as we need critical thinking we also need critical ignoring.
那么，除了批判性思维，我们还有什么工具可以利用呢？在我们最近的文章中，我们--一位哲学家、两位认知科学家和一位教育科学家--认为，我们需要批判性思维，我们也需要批判性忽视。
Critical ignoring is the ability to choose what to ignore and where to invest one’s limited attentional capacities. Critical ignoring is more than just not paying attention – it’s about practising mindful and healthy habits in the face of information overabundance.
批判性忽略是一种选择忽略什么以及将有限的注意力投入何处的能力。批判性忽略不仅仅是不注意，而是在信息泛滥的情况下，养成注意和健康的习惯。
We understand it as a core competence for all citizens in the digital word.
我们将其理解为数字世界中所有公民的核心能力。
Without it, we will drown in a sea of information that is, at best, distracting and, at worst, misleading and harmful.
没有它，我们就会淹没在信息的海洋中，轻则分散注意力，重则误导和伤害他人。
我们可以通过一些具体方法来保护自己，避免信息超载。快门
Tools for critical ignoring
关键忽略工具
Three main strategies exist for critical ignoring. Each one responds to a different type of noxious information.
临界忽略有三种主要策略。每种策略都针对不同类型的有害信息。
In the digital world, self-nudging aims to empower people to be citizen “choice architects” by designing their informational environments in ways that work best for them and that constrain their activities in beneficial ways. We can, for instance, remove distracting and irresistible notifications. We may set specific times in which messages can be received, thereby creating pockets of time for concentrated work or socialising. Self-nudging can also help us take control of our digital default settings, for instance, by restricting the use of our personal data for purposes of targeted advertisement.
在数字世界中，自我暗示的目的是让人们成为公民的 "选择建筑师"，以最适合他们的方式设计他们的信息环境，并以有益的方式限制他们的活动。例如，我们可以删除令人分心和无法抗拒的通知。我们可以设定接收信息的具体时间，从而为集中精力工作或社交创造小块时间。自我暗示还能帮助我们控制自己的数字默认设置，例如，限制将我们的个人数据用于有针对性的广告目的。
Lateral reading is a strategy that enables people to emulate how professional fact checkers establish the credibility of online information. It involves opening up new browser tabs to search for information about the organisation or individual behind a site before diving into its contents. Only after consulting the open web do skilled searchers gauge whether expending attention is worth it. Before critical thinking can begin, the first step is to ignore the lure of the site and check out what others say about its alleged factual reports. Lateral reading thus uses the power of the web to check the web.
横向阅读是一种策略，能让人们模仿专业事实核查人员如何确定网络信息的可信度。它包括打开新的浏览器标签，搜索网站背后的组织或个人的信息，然后再深入了解其内容。只有在查阅了开放的网络信息后，熟练的搜索者才会衡量是否值得花费精力。在开始批判性思考之前，第一步是忽略网站的诱惑，查看其他人对其所谓事实报道的评价。因此，横向阅读是利用网络的力量来检查网络。
Most students fail at that task. Past studies show that, when deciding whether a source should be trusted, students (as well as university professors) do what years of school has taught them to do – they read closely and carefully. Attention merchants as well as merchants of doubt are jubilant.
大多数学生都做不到这一点。过去的研究表明，学生（以及大学教授）在决定是否应该相信一个消息来源时，会按照多年的学校教育去做--他们会仔细认真地阅读。注意力商人和怀疑商人都很高兴。
Online, looks can be deceiving. Unless one has extensive background knowledge it is often very difficult to figure out that a site, filled with the trappings of serious research, peddles falsehoods about climate change or vaccinations or any variety of historical topics, such as the Holocaust. Instead of getting entangled in the site’s reports and professional design, fact checkers exercise critical ignoring. They evaluate the site by leaving it and engage in lateral reading instead.
在网上，外表可以欺骗人。除非拥有丰富的背景知识，否则通常很难发现一个网站披着严肃研究的外衣，却在兜售关于气候变化、疫苗接种或大屠杀等各种历史话题的虚假信息。事实核查人员不会纠缠于网站的报道和专业设计，而是进行批判性忽略。他们通过离开网站来评估网站，转而进行横向阅读。
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500,000 多人收到我们的新闻简报。加入他们的行列，现在就订阅。
The do-not-feed-the-trolls heuristic targets online trolls and other malicious users who harass, cyberbully or use other antisocial tactics. Trolls thrive on attention, and deliberate spreaders of dangerous disinformation often resort to trolling tactics. One of the main strategies that science denialists use is to hijack people’s attention by creating the appearance of a debate where none exists. The heuristic advises against directly responding to trolling. Resist debating or retaliating. Of course, this strategy of critical ignoring is only a first line of defence. It should be complemented by blocking and reporting trolls and by transparent platform content moderation policies including debunking.
不要喂养巨魔启发式针对的是网上巨魔和其他骚扰、网络欺凌或使用其他反社会策略的恶意用户。巨魔喜欢吸引眼球，而蓄意传播危险虚假信息的人往往会采用巨魔策略。科学否认者使用的主要策略之一就是通过制造辩论的假象来劫持人们的注意力。启发式建议不要直接回应嘲弄。抵制辩论或报复。当然，这种批判性忽视策略只是第一道防线。除此以外，还应辅之以屏蔽和举报嘲弄者，以及透明的平台内容管理政策，包括驳斥。
These three strategies are not a set of elite skills. Everybody can make use of them, but educational efforts are crucial for bringing these tools to the public.
这三种策略并不是一套精英技能。每个人都可以使用它们，但教育工作对于向公众普及这些工具至关重要。
Critical ignoring as a new paradigm for education
批判性忽视是一种新的教育范式
The philosopher Michael Lynch has noted that the Internet “is both the world’s best fact-checker and the world’s best bias confirmer – often at the same time.”
哲学家迈克尔-林奇（Michael Lynch）指出，互联网 "既是世界上最好的事实核查者，也是世界上最好的偏见证实者--往往是在同一时间"。
Navigating it successfully requires new competencies that should be taught in school. Without the competence to choose what to ignore and where to invest one’s limited attention, we allow others to seize control of our eyes and minds. Appreciation for the importance of critically ignoring is not new but has become even more crucial in the digital world.
成功驾驭互联网需要新的能力，这应该在学校里教授。如果没有能力选择忽略什么以及将有限的注意力投入何处，我们就会让他人控制我们的眼睛和思想。认识到批判性忽略的重要性并不新鲜，但在数字世界中却变得更加重要。
As the philosopher and psychologist William James astutely observed at the beginning of the 20th century: “The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to ignore.”
正如哲学家和心理学家威廉-詹姆斯 在20世纪初敏锐地观察到的那样"明智的艺术就是知道忽略什么的艺术"。