[crazy_horse]

I'm not sure how to phrase this without sounding rude, but what is this saying that adds insight to what I've been reading on places like HN for a decade?

Is it true that people are getting dumber? Big claim, no evidence. Do paragraphs exist? I'm looking for solution. Saying nobody knows what the future looks like ain't it.

[moate]

The "people are getting dumber" argument really rubbed me the wrong way as well. It's glib and pithy and people love to make this claim when talking about things they don't like about society.

"I dislike ads and only stupid idiot babies would tolerate platforms with ads, therefore everyone using the majority of websites is an idiot" is such lazy thinking. IDK, I'm a huge fan of social sciences which means I might as well be the devil to many engineers/HN posters.

[criticaltinker]

This book [1] argues that average IQ has been significantly increasing over the past century, and supports the claim with a wide variety of evidence.

However the author also posits that whether intelligence is increasing is still controversial and difficult to prove conclusively.

[1] Are We Getting Smarter?: Rising IQ in the Twenty-First Century https://books.google.com/books?id=Z_-ykOVpRccC

[asdff]

I wonder how well we are able to maintain focus relative to years past, what with the mental damage of consuming content in thirty second or so intervals for long chunks of time for years and years. My internet addiction as a teenager 15 years ago was bad enough, if I grew up with fast paced junk like TikTok I feel like I would probably develop ADD just from the rewiring process that happens while growing up coupled with these short spurts of junk food tier content meant to engage you for as long as possible. Hopefully in another 20 years people see social media like a cigarette but for mental health.

[moate]

Adult with ADHD here: You would not develop ADD from media. That's not how this works. The fact that devs have found ways to design sites that mimic patterns for addiction doesn't mean it's the people. It's the things. If you suddenly found yourself removed from the stimuli, you'd be fine, no longer the exposure period. I will not.

Since our jumping off point was "people are getting dumber"(they aren't) I just want to point out people aren't also developing ADHD, they just have more things vying for their neurtypical brain's attention.

[asdff]

Maybe you wouldn't get canonical ADD but you'd definitely have an attention deficit disorder of some sort. Drink alcohol every day and you become addicted to that dopamine hit. Gamble every day you are addicted to gambling. Play video games every day and you are addicted to video games. These things infect your mind because they work just like crack cocaine, luring you in with a hit of dopamine and you end up sacrificing showering at best, interpersonal relationships and other aspects of life at worst. There is science showing these rewiring events happening due to drinking, gambling, and other addictive or compulsive repeated behaviors. I'm not sure why repeated daily consumption of 30 seconds of viral content would be any different and wouldn't predispose you towards seeking your dopamine hit thirty seconds at a time, and make you de facto have a disorder holding attention on something for longer than 30 seconds.

[skeeter2020]

While it's pretty tough to even measure intelligence, nutrition and general health have improved dramatically, so that's likely to have spill-over into cognitive improvements as well.