Why you should be your own devil's advocate

Movies have always depicted an angel and a devil resting on each shoulder. Nowadays it seems like the debate around the dinner table has been replaced by the iPhone or Android. Rather than deep discussions revolving around critical thinking and the sharing of ideas, whoever can reach for their tech to tell us the ‘facts’ the quickest wins. As we continue to export our critical thinking to tech, we become less able to challenge our own bias’s, as we are surrounded online by thousands of others who form an echo chamber around our viewpoint.

The notorious thumbs gang, well known for having two thumbs up

There’s a reason why great competitors avoid surrounding themselves with too many ‘hype’ men. These are the people who always agree with you, downplay threats, and cheer on strengths that you already knew you had. Looking at your ideas through a different perspective can be useful to explore the way you think. Understand your critical thinking pitfalls, and challenge any underlying bias you may have.

Someone ended up in hospital after falling into this hole at an art gallery

It can be an interesting thought experiment to take a terrible event, or an idea that is morally corrupt, and look for positives. If you can consistently empathise with other people’s intentions (no matter how terrible), you’ll find yourself a lot less stressed in everyday scenarios. You’ll find yourself more courteous to others, and find yourself making excuses for people, no matter how outlandish. 

The guy who did this was probably just tired after volunteering at the homeless shelter

It’s easy to argue with others, but how often do you find yourself arguing with yourself? How often do you find yourself opposing your own ideas completely, looking for ethical or critical holes in your thoughts? It can be vitally important to play your own devil’s advocate, and to break down your ideas as if they were the thoughts of a stranger. Not only will you improve your critical thinking and ability to create fool-proof ideas, you‘ll expose weaknesses in your thinking you never knew you had.