To think people are getting noticeably stupider

[CurdinHenry]

At every level of capability it just feels like the species is in decline

Agree OP. Reading comprehension is down. People don't seem to be able to speak like adults.

It's across class too. My grandparents and great grandparents were all working class but educated in a way I don't often see now, including among university graduates. I had an
2nd year English major working for me this summer who had only ever read three books. Romance novels.

One of the things I increasingly notice is how infantile the concerns and hobbies of many adults are. Obsession with Star Wars. Or the lore of some anime series. Or cosplay. If they write its fanfic based around things like Twilight. And a lot of them are doing nothing really meaningful for their communities.

It's not necessarily time speaking though. People don't tend to eat meals together and talk like they used to, for example

But it's also the case that kids weren't with a parent because they were out navigating life. Walking to school, riding bikes, playing. We've massively reduced the chances our kids get to do the things that actually drive maturity and thinking skills.

It's no wonder they are falling behind compared to other kids.

umm no

https://www.howmanysyllables.com/syllables/happy

Oh for sure. My point was you can’t blame the capitalist machine for not having the time to read to your kids

saddest thing is seeing toddlers in a pushchair with an iPad attached - they should be looking at the world around them or having the parent chat to them but instead they’re watching bluey

My son is 22, he’s way smarter than me (and I’m not stupid). I think part of it is the quality of parenting has declined. Even on MN there are threads where posters are afraid of upsetting their primary aged kids over the slightest thing (so the bigger things don’t get addressed till it’s too late).

That’s unpossible.

I’m not saying what I think as an opinion, it’s scientific fact that we are evolving differently as a result of better/improved medical technology. I can see you’re getting upset about posts like these and really, I’m sorry as I don’t want to upset anyone. But surely we can’t be telling others what they can or cannot say incase you disagree or become upset by it? I didn’t say I agreed with this or that it’s right, but it’s fact. We sustain life when in the past we couldn’t. We create life when in the past we couldn’t. What’s incorrect about these comments?

That's just what I was about to say! It is alarming, if that's what the world is heading towards!

Many kids don't play. It's astounding. I've had kids round here and they just stood literally open mouthed not knowing what to do with themselves in the absence of being entertained.

This has already been pointed to by some.

There has been some research that suggests this generation of 'young people' (gen alpha is it? Might be gen Z. I find all these generational distinctions a bit pointless) are the first to be less intelligent than their parents overall whereas its usual to expect a generational increase in intelligence overall.

It's been put down to AI and over use of technology. The main issue being that they are no longer required to sit with a problem and figure it out and can just Google the answer and let AI do it for them.

I remember growing up with the phrase 'necessity is the mother of invention' and this can apply to a wide variety of situations including boredom and frustration. Whereas previous generations would have sat with a problem and figured out a solution themselves or invented a game to alleviate boredom etc, now the Internet and AI solves that without any effort or 'sitting with the problem'.

So those deeper, higher level thinking skills are less developed.

I can’t see it getting better. My workplace are obsessed with copilot and I’ve had to put my head above the parapet 3 times recently to point out things it’s doing wrong. It’s even more ridiculous that one do those was the CFO, who already doesn’t like me.

Apologies not my first language 😉

I agree and I will give you an example. I used to be very good at remembering spellings of even long, complex words. Now thanks to typing and auto spell checking, I found myself getting confused about spellings of certain words I used to have no problem before.

In general, reading skills and attention spans are on decline. I think there’s some correlation with the usage of smartphones. So while there are still some very smart people, overall society is getting dumber.

It is worrying how many adults engage in what used to be seen as childish pursuits. Playing computer games, reading comic books, watching cartoons, playing with toys etc. IMO something has gone wrong with society and we are on an inexorable downward trajectory.

I watched Idiocracy recently and it felt recognisable.

For me adults acting like teenagers is the big thing. I was talking to somebody I know about the recent proposed public execution in the USA and he responded “of course they aren’t going to do it - can’t you see you’re being trolled!” I asked him if he doesn’t find it disturbing that people in high office are using their position to “troll”. He said it’s just funny. This man is in his 60s.

There just seems to be a lot of adults who are regressing to acting like teenagers.

That’s exactly what I thought of!

Tantrumming over the ‘wrong’ birthday cake, being too anxious to phone the GP and making their parent do it, going on day trips to zoos and petting farms.

The number of times my kids have been barged out of the way by adults queuing to walk goats or stroke rabbits is fucking madness

They also seem to think everyone was locked away in asylums until 2015…

https://www.sociology.ox.ac.uk/article/fertility-has-declined-across-all-educational-groups-in-the-uk

Birth rates have dropped across the board but those with less education have more children.

The bit about Idiocracy that really rings true is the educated, middle class couple waiting "until the time is right" to have children whilst the slovenly, uneducated rednecks are spawning like rabbits.

Adverts have always been like that though. At least, back to my knowledge in the 70s. A catchy jingle and people remember it.

I agree with the OP on the whole, and that the internet and AI in particular mean that people don’t need to think for themselves any longer .

Animals hunt/find food for their young. Which animals share this food with other sick animals?

Maybe you can look this up!

I don't think that was the posters point though. She was observing that expectations of knowledge / world awareness amongst the general public in a mainstream TV quiz show - so absolutely not at the level of Only Connect or University Challenge - was far higher. Which I agree with .

Given her age, I would say that is an issue specific to this person. I would assume she has been similar to this all of her life? Very intelligent in some respects but no common sense. There have always been people like this but I don’t think this is what the thread is about.

Ironically you've just proved the OPs point.