To think we’re getting dumber?

[ByMerryTiger]

AIBU to think people are getting… thicker? Not just ‘bit slow on a Monday’ thick, but ‘can’t read a basic sentence without spiralling into nonsense’ thick.

You see it constantly on here. Someone writes a clear post: paragraphs, punctuation, even the odd line break. And the replies come from people who’ve either skimmed one word and filled in the rest with fever dreams, or who seem to think reading comprehension is some sort of woke conspiracy.

Post: Neighbour offered me Battenberg after reversing into my fence, do I accept or ask for cash?

Replies:

• ‘Why are you so anti-cake?’
• ‘Maybe it was your fault for having a fence.’
• ‘You should be grateful she reversed slowly.’
• ‘My mother died in a freak fence collision and I find this offensive.’
• ‘Fences are a capitalist construct.’

The leap in logic. The total inability to process what’s actually been written. It’s like everyone’s brain has been replaced with a malfunctioning Alexa.

No one seems to follow a thread anymore, let alone a thought. You’ll get replies that directly contradict the post or themselves. Tangents about school shoes, astrology, or ‘back in my day we didn’t have fences’.

It’s not just here either. It’s emails, conversations, work meetings. Words go in, soup comes out. We’re a nation of people who couldn’t pass Year 6 reading SATs but think they should be in charge of policy decisions.

Anyway. Fence is fine. Battenberg was dry. Mind is unravelling.

YABVVU, because now I want Battenburg cake.

Gosh I haven't had Battenburg for absolutely years!

I would like a fence made of Battenberg.

I like carrot cake.

I think theres a range of reasons to be honest.

I think the online age has completely changed the way we communicate (like how people started talking differently around television etc).

I once read something about the impact of twitter and the need to put things in short phrasing that both changed vocabulary, but especially grammera, people writing styles (eg nuance) and trying to get a snappy response.

The way that being viral works, prioritised a certain type of comments that more people see so that becomes the norm and repeated.
You'll find on any mumsnet thread it's the shorter comments that gain traction, responses etc so why would you write a long waffle like this. Its also a lot of effort if you're fairly convinced people aren't going to read it, the thread will move on (got to get in their quick!) And the op won't come back.

Personally my spelling is atrocious these days because of auto correct. Typing etc has really killed it

My concentration span was poor but since working in my current job is pretty much dead. Its not uncommon now in work situations to be in a meeting where every single person is doing multiple tasks eg I'm often scrolling, email writing, and talking to colleagues whilst on virtual meetings.

It means people are often missing points, but also just deep in their own world.

I remember my mum for example sitting for hours on the phone rarely doing anything else. Now days you'd be texting a friend, while watching tv with the dinner on and chatting to your kids. Its no wonder replies are often poor quality!

Why are you so anti-Battenburg? Racist.

To answer your question:

Amazing though it seems, people seem to be getting more intelligent. It's called the Flynn Effect. Every generation is scoring higher on IQ tests.

YABU to equate Mumsnet with an intelligence test, when most people just come here to get into hypothetical arguments with strangers. Also YABU not to provide Battenberg.

Isn't chocolate cake on the table?

If not, why not?

I know I am 🙋‍♀️

That's old news, we are now becoming stupider.

It's when I watch old videos of the 60s, 70s, 80s etc. and the ordinary people being interviewed actually sound intelligent and can string a sentence together, that I realise how bad things have become. The children sound more intelligent as well and speak clearly. Now, they just seem to mumble and grunt in that awful new London accent.

On here, some of the posts don't make any sense in spite of reading them over and over again. The odd typo is forgivable, but often, every other word is wrong and it's a waste of time trying to work out what it means.

'I casnt in the bus on Mnday abd cat at the back bt a man oljectd.' kind of thing. I wonder if the deterioration in verbal skills is mirrored by a decline in general cognitive skills as well. Social skills are certainly declining too.

Another 20 years and we'll be back in the stone age.

I dont like cake only custard tarts and sugar doughnuts.
Yes this generation and some from the last are dumb and getting dumber.

I would kill for a slice of battyburg right now!

I don't think people are necessarily actually dumber but the way we value intelligence has changed.

So the old interviews with people being articulate etc: back then there was a pride in learning, and being seen as learned. That's not where people get their pride from these days. It's how many followers they have or did their thread get hundreds of replies. It's not about the quality of anything that's being said. Just the quantity. So it doesn't matter to anyone posting whether or not they have accurately followed an argument. Just that they posted something.

I really really wish we still had the laugh react! This comment section is gold! 🤣🤣🤣

It also depends on what we call intelligence

For example my grandfather had a lot of practical knowledge that I don't really his trade. He knew the ins and outs of ship making to an incredible degree which feels like a lost art.

I can use technology proficiently that he couldn't have imagined. My ship literacy is zero but my tech legacy is far greater

Its also worth saying that my grandfather was well spoken but also had very little formal qualification (didn't finish school). I have a masters but speak more commonly than him

He also had a smaller set of knowledge. In today's age I feel like geography wise for example I know a little bit about a lot of countries but my grandfather knew much more about this country eg map knowledge but less so about other places

I wouldn't like to say who was more intelligent. Its a subjective measure.

I feel like we are in such an information age that we have become very much generalist, holding small amounts of knowledge about vast numbers of things that means often the knowledge we have is wrong, or pretty surface level

Speech is also subjective and a living thing. Grammer isn't fixed, our children will have different grammer rules to us, and each generation has found the next to be full of slang and improper with poor accents. Our grandparents despaired with us and our common ways and we will despair of the next generation

My great grandfather for example used to think whistling was akin to gang signs, have lots of odd rules for the table, call people ma'am etc and speak in what feels increasingly almost like a different language

My grandad used to get beaten by him for his poor accent! Now he'd sound like one of the bbc telecasters

I don’t think it’s ’this generation’, tbh. If we’re to use MN as an example (and I am), the behaviour to which I refer clearly spans different age groups.

Yes, I suppose lots of people have decided that the system doesn’t reward reading to the end. It rewards showing up, shouting something vaguely related, and getting the dopamine hit before the next person’s even finished their sentence. 🙁

Our local area Facebook page is a peach for this kind of thing.

Just got new flat. Anyone got a chester draws I can have?
Yes, I have a chest of drawers I no longer need.
Can you deliver it to me cuz I can't drive right now as my mam smashed my car.
Yes, I can deliver, where do you live?
You'll have to take the fridge away with you or I won't have room for the chester draws. It's in the way. Want gone.

Righto, I could take the fridge away.
I paid £300 for it ten years ago so I want £299 for it now. Needs a wipe round but otherwise it's saught off all right.
Well I'm not paying for it but I will take it to the tip. Where do you live?
No worries, my bruv has just given me his chester draws. Do you still want fridge?

Yes, that’s all very lovely but it’s not really the point. No one’s arguing that intelligence is a fixed, one-size-fits-all measure. Of course your grandfather was clever in a different way. Of course we’re generalists now, and language evolves, and table manners are basically Victorian cosplay. All fair.

But my original point wasn’t about who can name more capital cities or whether it’s posher to say ‘napkin’ or ‘serviette’. It’s about the basic cognitive skill of following a narrative and responding appropriately. The ability to read a post, understand its structure, and offer a reply that shows you’ve grasped the argument.

That skill is vanishing. Across all age groups. And nowhere is it more obvious than on Mumsnet. People aren’t just disagreeing, they’re replying to things that weren’t said, ignoring key details, contradicting themselves mid-thread, or going off on wild tangents about Meghan Markle, gluten, and house prices in Kent.

If you think of two threads on mumsnet/ two videos on facebook/ two articles

A is long, well researched and thought out.

B is snappy, controversial and has some inaccuracies

A you'll get half way through, you might shelf it for a time while your nit scrolling while doing 30 other things, you might pop it a like

B- you will read (possibly in its entirety) immediately, maybe you notice the inaccuracies maybe you don't. You fire back a comment to tell them what they get wrong, you share it to discuss how terrible it is or to say "yes!" (Because you know others will read it over A)

More people will always see B. Any form of interaction with it (even negative) boosts it's profile, pushes it into trending sections etc. Algorithms also tend to punish long posts videos etc.

Then when you go to write you end up writing more like B because that's the last things you've read

Opinion pieces are now far more the norm

🤣🤣🤣

You’re obviously entirely correct and I’m now thoroughly depressed.

You specifically said dumber. Its in the title. There's multiple other comments about language and accents intelligence etc

That's the point though of who decides what's the right way to respond?

Debating looked different 69 years ago to what it does now. The way conversation looks will always evolve.

I said up thread that I think it's mostly about people being able to isolate themselves in little worlds, but also the people replying on mumsnet for example will rarely be sat just on mumsnet. They will have 30 tabs open, be watching tv, with the dinner on, half keeping an eye on kids.

They aren't giving the same kind of considered replies that people would have been giving in face to face conversations

Devolution I call it. We evolved to a point. Now it looks like we’re devolving.

An example for me (another example) was when I heard people calling themselves ‘influencers’, describing their ‘job’ being an ‘influencer’.

Or their goal is to ‘be on a reality show’.

Forget not knowing the difference between there, they’re and their. The problems run far deeper today.

I see young people at the schools who give me hope for the future. However they are most definitely, outnumbered.