I was recently drawn back to my 2024 rant on Idiocracy (Nickelodeon, 2006) and Disuse Atrophy (November 2024)." There, I suggested that the brain is a muscle that needs exercise and stretching to remain functional and effective. It needs challenges to grow and develop. As Hippocrates is said to have phrased it: "That which is used - develops. That which is not used wastes away."
Horace Middlemier* knows these things interest me and sent an article in which Nature (February 2025) has concluded that "search engines, GPS maps, and other tech can alter our ability to learn and remember." It cites anecdotal examples of technology overreliance and function loss. However, the authors there conclude that broad "claims such as 'Google is making us stupid' are 'overstatements.'" Nonetheless, they suggest that AI may have a more pervasive effect in this regard.
Futurism recently published shocking news that "people really are less smart than they used to be." We are notably declining individually (micro) and societally (macro). There is a lot there to unpack, but the consistent end of the maze is that we are declining mentally.
The story quotes from The Financial Times (FT) with assessments and statistics regarding our decline in "concentrating and losing reasoning, problem-solving, and information-processing skills." Each of those seems somewhat critical, like say oxygen, hydration, and even "more cowbell." That last one is fanciful, no one needs "more cowbell," not even the celebrity who proclaims it so insistently (I cannot remember his name).
The decline conclusions regarding the loss of mental function are not opinions. That said, there is some degree of opinion involved; more on that below. However, the FT notes benchmarking tests of cognitive skills. They have been studying "15-year-olds around the world" for some time, and the results are from comparing the outcomes and abilities. This is not measuring today's 15-year-olds against us 30-somethings or other generations, but measuring today's 15-year-olds against those of decades past. And the results are alarming.
Some of this is likely related to the Great Panic, which included a Great Pause in education opportunities and challenges. The consensus on the impact of school closure has been relatively well documented. That is noteworthy as a contributor and worthy of some consideration. However, the researchers are convinced (opinion) that the decline is more than that which the Great Pause might plausibly suggest or explain.
There is reason for fear in the decline in our reading (remember when every little town had a building full of compressed pulp products that we called "books?"). Readership is down. Comfort working with numbers is decreasing as is our ability to do so (remember when you paid people with "checks" and had to keep a mathematical record of your bank balance?). Remember when you could hand a clerk paper money and they handed you back "change" that you had to count and confirm?
I saw my first calculator in 1975. I remember it cost close to $100 back then and all it could do was rudimentary math. We were never allowed to use a calculator on an examination, even when I got to college and was asked to work calculus and statistics equations by hand. No calculators, show your work and resultingly work your way through it.
The tech has brought us comfort. Calculators, digital assistants, smartphones, tablets, GPS, and so much more. In 2009, Apple brought us the new world order with the catchphrase "There's an app for that," and we bought it. We all have a raft of apps on various devices and they have relieved us of the need to think, not so much remember, but think. There is too much screen time and not enough challenge (remember chess club after school? it was also a social event where we actually spoke to people).
The FT article concludes that the downturn in our function and ability is real. This is troublesome. It is easy to identify some culprits:
- Devices - who studies when all the world's knowledge is in your pocket?
- Decreased reading, both recreational and occupational.
- Calculator apps, instant number information, and decreased use of math.
- GPS apps with instant mileage, arrival times, and more.
Each of these allows us relief from the challenges of daily life. They can relieve us of processing responsibility. Some are so concerned that they are practicing "appstenance."
But, what of a deeper look? Is it possible that our attention span has also been affected by the 30-minute news cycle? How about the great composition and art of such societal gems as Gilligan's Island (CBS 1964). Let's not blame Gilligan for all our woes, I Love Lucy (Desilu 1951) had a lot of the same inane schtick. And, they all delivered a dopamine rush in just 30 minutes, including commercials.
Same schtick? Almost every television sitcom I have ever watched reminds me of Lucy. The contrived misunderstandings, human frailties, and comedic set-ups. Pick Friends, How I Met Your Mother, and on and on. You can see a bit of Lucille Ball in all of them. When you view these shows, picture any character with Lucille Ball's face and you will likely see the schtick it as well. So much recycled pablum providing a quick laugh, and a dopamine shot to the distracted, sedentary brain.
Is technology giving us progress, or is it allowing us to divest, detach, and disengage? I explored that in Retrograde (March 2022). I quoted Timothy Leary and suggested that these devices we are glued to are not the answer to our prayers. We are too focused on our screens, our fictional social media "friends," and our introversion. We are avoiding in-person interaction and it is killing us, see Uncle Buck to Ray Kinsella (July 2021).
The perils of device dependence are in front of our eyes. I see it and believe most of us do. And yet, we sit each evening plopped in front of the "idiot box" as it feeds us and degrades our sense of perspective. We keep consuming the same familiar material, aided by various streaming services and intractable habits. We actually come to believe that every problem, mystery, or challenge can be solved in less than 60 minutes. We accept that the good always prevails and that results will be achieved.
Just when things were bad on the attention span front, after we adjusted to the 30-minute cycle of news and short sitcom focus, the age of social media further assaulted our intellect and focus. As we diminished from the shortened span, along came tick tock and brought us ridiculous, vacuous videos averaging about 30 seconds.
And we are surprised that our attention span is short? People sit and watch amazingly mindless shorts, but will spend hours doing it. And, most do not even watch the whole 30 seconds. We don't even have 30 seconds of patience? Somehow in our path to such brevity and detachment from the real world, we began to lose our concentration, reasoning, and intellectual function. Who'd a thunk it?
There is a great threat to society, micro and macro, that emanates from social media, apps, idiocracy, and the fallacies of digital "connection." The threat is real, imminent, and terrifying. We are hard-wired to process and think. Saving us from thinking and processing is not helping us. We are losing our ability to think, communicate, and interact. It is happening before our eyes, empirically quantified, and widely ignored.
Congratulations on sticking to this post to the end. I am proud.
*Horace Middlemier is a fictional affectation. Any resemblance to any real person or persons is coincidental and utterly unintended.
