  In a stylized voting model, we establish that increasing the share of
critical thinkers -- individuals who are aware of the ambivalent nature of a
certain issue -- in the population increases the efficiency of surveys
(elections) but might increase surveys' bias. In an incentivized online social
media experiment on a representative US population (N = 706), we show that
different digital storytelling formats -- different designs to present the same
set of facts -- affect the intensity at which individuals become critical
thinkers. Intermediate-length designs (Facebook posts) are most effective at
triggering individuals into critical thinking. Individuals with a high need for
cognition mostly drive the differential effects of the treatments.
