Critical thinking is essentially learning to ask good questions and also caring enough to follow the threads you find.
For example, if mental health is to blame for school shootings then what is causing the mental health crisis and are we ensuring that everyone has affordable access to mental healthcare? Okay, we have a list of factors that adversely impact mental health, what can we do to address each one? Etc.
Critical thinking isn’t hard, it just takes time, effort.
Next time you are buying groceries, don’t buy anything that has any plastic in the packaging and then get back to us on how avoiding plastic is merely a matter of choice.
Nearly all clothing is full of plastic these days as well. Plastic from china is just as bad for the environment as plastic from any other country.