This is one of the most moronic phrases of this high-control group.
If you search this term, you see the extreme importance of developing this skill to make it in life.
https://www.google.com/search?q=%22independent+thinking%22
Inevitably, WTS rails against such harmful thinking.
https://www.google.com/search?q=%22independent+thinking%22#q=%22independent+thinking%22+site:jw.org
The third search result (in my results) shows a bit of a misstep by the Awake writer(s):
Early adolescence is a time of self-absorption, preoccupation with body changes, and impulsiveness. Middle adolescence is characterized more by experimentation, and late adolescence by independent thinking.
Looks like they forgot to rail against this horrific development during late adolescence.