Reply to Are people getting dumber?

Forum Index » Off-Topic

Reply to "Are people getting dumber?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Not to sound like a grumpy old person (I’m 52), but is it me or are people getting dumber? It feels like people struggle to follow very basic directions generally and maybe it’s just that no one reads anything anymore, but we belong to a group that has sign ups for classes 4x a year and I’m amazed that families who have been doing this for years suddenly seem wildly confused about the process. Or can no longer navigate to a location without gps even though you give them simple verbal directions (eg Take X road, turn right at the light and we are the second house on the left). Or no longer try to figure something out before searching google/You Tube. Or are so easily sways by whatever they read on the internet, that we have people who are well educated spouting off crazy tunes conspiracy theories. I could go on and on, but I’m starting to feel like I live in the twilight zone. [/quote]

I don't think dumber, just refocused.
There was an article sort of about this years and years ago in the New Yorker. I think there used to be a caste of Indians who were known for reciting epic poems. They didn't read nor write, the poems were memorized and recited as village entertainment. Kind of like how the Greeks and Romans entertained themselves at public squares when orators would chant the stories of The Odyssey or The Iliad to the crowds. The curious thing about this caste of Indians was when writing was introduced and their epic tales were copied down. They relied on the written text instead of committing it to memory. People stopped committing these stories to memory.

I guess the corollary today is the phone number. Once upon a time when I was a teen I knew people's phone numbers by heart. Now I couldn't tell you what my children's mobile numbers are without consulting my own phone. Because I don't need to memorize the numbers, I have another method for that handy.
The google maps thing is a problem because I can definitely see my kids unable to read maps. They orient the map to their physical direction. That is to say, they have the device simulate their position and they follow the arrow on screen telling them where to go. They are not understanding the context nor layout of the greater area to guide them.

I dunno, maybe when paper maps came about older folks started fretting that kids today can't identify trails using trees, rocks and the sun.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics