NEXUS BETWEEN CRITICAL THINKING AND MEDIA AND INFORMATION LITERACY IN DETECTING MEDIA NEGATIVITY AMONG NIGERIAN YOUTH
;Researchers have observed that Nigerian youth are exposed to a considerable volume of information on social media platibrms, including Facebook, histogram, TikTok and YouTube, which may lead to adverse effects. The prevalence of media negativity—including fake news, misirtionnation, disinformation, violence, and hartnfid content—poses significant challenges to young people especially. This study aims to explore the reasons behind the rapid spread of media negativity within the media landscape and to understand wiry Nigerian youth are particularly affected by social media content consumption. It examined the relationship between critical thinking skills and Media and Information Literacy (MIL) competencies to dent& media negativity among Nigerian youth. Employing a social survey design, 600 copies of the questionnaire were distributed to a sample of youts in the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria through research assistants and electronic means. The data collected were analysed using frequency tables and percentages. The findings indicated a positive correlation between critical thinking abilities and MIL competencies, highlighting that many Nigerian youth struggle to detect or recognise media negativity. Consequently, the study recommended integrating critical thinking and MIL into Nigeria's educational curricula and youth development programmes. It concluded that enhancing MIL will foster critical thinking skills among the youth and enable them to difierentiate between negative and positive media messages.
