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.

i read that too, it does beg the question just what is possible with science.
cannot believe they promoted fargo/ technically a timeline swap but still in any universe/reality its fargo etc omg
jo lupo, that eposide when they are at the bunker and she asks carter if he was alone and about 10 red dots appear on jo.
overall a great series

Narcissists want to be centre of attention/respected expert/smartest in the room, but at some level they know they aren't and will melt down when shown up as wanting

People who genuinely believe that they are smarter than they actually are can come from all walks of life

I don't think we're getting thicker but I do think education is getting poorer. Not knowing the difference between they're, there and their, language comprehension, not understanding what evolution is and how it works, etc. these are all failures of education not intelligence.

Perhaps it’s already been said by PP, but its democratisation of thickery.

Thickos now share the same platform as smart people. They’re all on the internet and walk amongst the intellectuals. And they drag everyone down to their level by rage baiting. Like the examples in your OP.

And they are multiplying.

It’s almost like a zombie move where they are charging at the un infected or the alive only to attack them. But with stupidity instead.

TLDR.

YABU for mentioning cake when the shops are shut.

but thats because half the time they are more intrested in tiktok or football etc rather than studying in the age of wikipedia and google etc any subject or at least the basics etc but give them pop music, and will young etc and easily led

But we have an education system that values rote learning rather than logical thinking.
What you are describing OP is what follows from thst.
Schools have to teach to the tests..

I do not agree that people are getting thicker. It is that they are out there, very visibly, unedited and unfiltered. We are spending more time communicating with people, especially complete strangers, in writing.

The things we can do without the aid of computers now is pretty minimal.
Spell? Add? Multiply? Read a map? Even converse with other humans…

@ByMerryTiger "And the replies come from people who’ve either skimmed one word and filled in the rest with fever dreams"

this is so brilliant, I want to make it my username!

Thread 🙌🏼

I don't agree. I worked with many younger people over the years and I was constantly amazed at the very basic knowledge they were lacking in - and many of these people had uni degrees. Things my generation, and my DH's (he was younger than me) grew up learning they simply didn't know. exDH still comments on this. Also I really think some people don't understand that text abbreviation is not actually the correct way to write. So many don't seem to know what is happening in other parts of the world at any given time, I find it quite scary. Of course this isn't a blanket thing, but I can't help but think that overall OP is right.

However, you are right in one respect - they should be providing Battenburg!

Something to bear in mind is that some people will have kids around in the background while reading posts. If your reading comprehension stays the same whilst being badgered for snacks, asked for Minecraft tips or having a soft toy shoved in your face I take my hat off to you. Or they may have insomnia and be half asleep like me right now.

Why is everyone writing Batternburg? Ironically mis-spelling the joke of the thread.

I studied German and whilst I've forgotten much of it, spelling Battenberg correctly is now my only skill, and I'm going to cling to it. I'm currently looking for a WFH position related to Battenberg.

Battenberg is the original form of the Royal Family's name Mountbatten. Berg is German for mountain. Anyone you meet with Berg in their name is just Something-Mountain.

In a similar vein, anyone with "baum" in their name, like Tannenbaum, is Something-Tree.

There is research that shows that we read differently in digital than in hard copy print. Whilst we closely read hard copy we are tempted to skim read, or even scan, digital- whilst I say ‘tempted’ I’m not sure how much actual control we always have. Anyway, we therefore absorb much less, just reading for the gist, or picking out the important words (to us). Percentages of words read are something like 80% hard copy, 40% skim and 30% scan - these are probably not accurate (my memory!) but give an idea of how much we take in.
I learned of this many years ago, and it stuck with me, but I also wondered whether it would change as we used digital more and more, from a younger and younger age - perhaps not though, or perhaps not yet, or perhaps we will learn to communicate differently over time.
Also my go to when objecting to PowerPoint reading presentations was a suggestion apparently made about the Challenger catastrophe- the problem that caused it was right there mentioned in a PP presentation, but overlooked as it was a PP presentation- hopefully this was more of an exaggeration, but having delivered (not read) PP presentations and being told I never mentioned something then I do think there’s a basis of possibility in this idea.
I recognise I’ve written too much - very bad habit I avoid at work now having learned only first 2 lines are ever read! - but I’m older and find it harder to adjust!

Or let non-experts in the media tell them. My bloke was watching the news yesterday, but instead of watching the actual news, he was watching a news clip with a youtuber in the corner commentating on the news, telling him how to interpret what the news is saying. I commented on this and he said this is how everyone gets their news these days!

I’m often astounded by people’s lack of comprehension on here.
You’ll see someone reply to a post and they’ve spectacularly missed the point of it.

I know for me at least that my reading comprehension when reading from screens is far far lower. I read faster, skimming, get more easily distracted, and get tired when its a long chunk of text. Have none of these issues when reading print so its definitely related to the screen.

I do also think I am becoming less intelligent, I think that's down to screens affecting my concentration and becoming more reliant on things like autocorrect and calculators.

YANBU
The art of debate has been completely lost. It’s often pointless engaging with people.

I had it last at a funeral. It was unexpected but very joyful. Liverpudlian catholic funeral so wonder if that’s just a thing.

There's nothing 'similar' to a mammogram, though. I myself can manage fine with a male health care provider at the other end of me, but couldn't bear for a man to have his arm around me, so close I could feel his breath and smell his toothpaste. This is a point many other women brought up.

I know you are not asking me but no I’m far more intelligent than my parents. But they didn’t read, weren’t curious about things. The irony being my dad was always saying if I made a mistake, as children do -are you stoopid? Deliberately misspelling that as that’s how he pronounced it.

is it not also that we are seeing peoples spelling and grammar or lack of more as we use social media. People are having to write things down and that exposes it.

accents as well, people don’t put on accents, my mum had a telephone voice which is similar to the voices you hear in people being interviewed years ago that other posters have alluded to. Now we hear lots of different accents so aren’t as ashamed by ours and don’t try to flatten them out perhaps? If everyone you heard on tv sounded like the queen (the same voice as the woman in the cafe in Brief Encounter) then you’d emulate that.

I think that because there's so much anger everywhere about just about every single topic under the sun, many posters have developed a 'short-fuse' mode. It's not just rage-baiting, it's rage full stop. That plays a massive role.

Yes, we indeed are, and I see numerous examples of it daily.

Spelling is one such area. If I see liaise spelled as ‘lease’ at work one more time I swear I’ll implode! I work in education and I received an email on Friday from one of our associates regarding a safeguarding matter relating to a young person and I wish I could say I was joking when I tell you I had to read it 3 times to try and make sense of it. It was littered with spelling mistakes (including the example as above), and I think punctuation. and grammar were completely lost on her. I was supposed to be able to quote from the aforementioned email but it was impossible.

I fully appreciate that people have needs (and don’t know if she has any), but if you are working in the type of role she is, then it is essential that you can communicate with clarity. She is white and English, and this is not the first email of this type of ‘quality’ from her.

We are the same intelligence but in the olden days we could only read the opinions professionally written in newspapers or books, or carefully chosen letters to the editor.
The internet has shone an unflattering light on the human race.