They said that about radio. They said that about TV. They said that about computers. They said that about dumbphones. They said that about smartphones. They're now saying that about apps.
They said it about huffing paint thinner too, to be fair.
I think most of these statements are actually far more true than we give them credit for. Not necessarily because of what they do but because what they displace.
I was in senior year of high school when World of Warcraft dropped. Half my class went from high performing bright eyed students to zombies barely passing classes because they stayed up until 3 AM doing raids every day.
It's largely the same sort of problem as with weed and alcohol. It's not that you'll go stark raving mad or your arms fall off, but you sort of just stop doing other things. There is no time for it, and you have no will to make time for it. You become so sedated you're essentially fine doing nothing in particular all your life.
This was a problem with most of the things you listed. Each got progressively better at it.
Why were "they" wrong? Is it because the issues of each successive development in mass media made those of the previous iteration look quaint? It's easy to look back on (for example) TV as a harmless diversion, but it was a radical development in the dissemination of visual information.
Also this is a funny argument. If these things are truly making people dumber but the change is happening on a generational level, then a dumber generation would not realize that it is dumber than the previous one.
It's also further muddied by other changes - like changes in education in the past 50 years - which makes the phenomenon harder to isolate and to judge.
marginalia_nu|3 years ago
I think most of these statements are actually far more true than we give them credit for. Not necessarily because of what they do but because what they displace.
I was in senior year of high school when World of Warcraft dropped. Half my class went from high performing bright eyed students to zombies barely passing classes because they stayed up until 3 AM doing raids every day.
It's largely the same sort of problem as with weed and alcohol. It's not that you'll go stark raving mad or your arms fall off, but you sort of just stop doing other things. There is no time for it, and you have no will to make time for it. You become so sedated you're essentially fine doing nothing in particular all your life.
This was a problem with most of the things you listed. Each got progressively better at it.
jryhjythtr|3 years ago
gergov|3 years ago
It's also further muddied by other changes - like changes in education in the past 50 years - which makes the phenomenon harder to isolate and to judge.