The Science of Conspiracy Theories

The Dumb Conspiracy

The Dumb Conspiracy

I saw this just recently and it got me thinking, especially since I have five children. The article claimed that children are dumber than their parents and that their children will be even dumber.

First of all, this is not based on scientific evidence. Some recent data indicates that IQ's are increasing slightly by at least 30 points from the 1900's. However, there are several factors that might be coming into play these days. For one thing, there is the Internet now and it is much easier to learn or do research. But, are children learning like their parents did? That's a good question. Then there is the problem with the difference between critical thinking and learning facts. Facts can be quantified, critical thinking can't.

One of the reasons that the perception of intelligence has been confused is the ascendency of technology, especially the smartphone. As with any new and interesting technology, the smartphone has become the most used item by everyone, especially young people. The reason for this is simple: the smartphone allows instant communication, something that young people not only desire but actually worship. This has resulted in a crisis of sorts because this constant attention to a device that is the epitome of a virtual world has robbed people of paying attention to the real world. But that's only one aspect of the problem.

WHO, the World Health Organization, has sponsored tests to determine if smartphone use has had an effect on peoples' health. An older study tried to determine if cellphone use causes cancer because of radiation. All of these tests were done on rats and the conclusion was that 2 to 7% of rats developed brain cancer when exposed to the level or radiation from a cellphone. These results prompted the agency to issue a warning that cellphone use is a possible danger, which people simply ignored.

Another smartphone effect on health has to do with VDT or Video Display Terminal effect. This causes shoulder and neck problems. These studies were done with laptops and other handheld devices but are applicable to smartphones. One particular problem with smartphones has to do with a problem that called Texter's thumb and neck. I doubt that this is a problem with young people despite their constant use of the devices. Youthful necks and thumbs are more flexible than their elder equivalents.

The most serious problem with smartphone use happens while driving. The number of fatal crashes due to texting has eclipsed drunk-driving causes. But, this problem has simply taken over the previous distractions of eating, applying makeup, reading newspapers and playing with the radio.

Smartphone use has also been associated with changes to the brain. Studies have shown that frequent use causes cognitive disorders and problems with childhood emotional development. The studies claim that smartphone overuse makes your brain lazy. I think the main problem with smartphones is that people are more distracted and prone to injury. I recall the viral YouTube video of a woman walking into a mall while looking at her phone and falling into a fountain.

Despite all these studies, I don't believe that new generations are becoming less intelligent. There is no reason for that to happen. But, observations of young people by adults would tend to suggest that said young people are dumber. This belief goes back to parents of preceding generations. This is just a perception not a real factual observation.

One reason that children are perceived to be dumber when NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) scores are compared is because there is much more to know now than when their parents went to school, especially in science, history and literature. Also, today's students don't have to read cursive or speak proper English.

This is not a new problem. As it turns out, the same situation occurred when television became popular. People were addicted to a luminous screen displaying moving pictures to the point of ignoring real live movement in front of them. As time went on this fascination waned but not before it had been demonized. The same thing is happening with smartphone addiction. Proof of this is the fact that Apple is adding apps that will show people how much they use iPhones.

My problem with both TV and smartphones is that they are passive devices. Most people sit in front of a TV to watch shows and movies. There is no constructive activity in this. It's strictly passive. The same is true of smartphones. The scene of entire groups of people staring at their phones has become a ubiquitous one. It's as if the phone is the only world they care about. The question to ask is: is this resulting in dumber children?

It would be easy to assume this to be true, but I don't think it's any worse than what happen when television became the big thing. What changed the course of this predicted decay of human advancement was the way that schools began to incorporate TV into the education system. I believe that this same idea can be applied to the smartphone and its big brother, the iPad. This technology could be employed to enhance education, and I believe that this is beginning to happen.

Eventually, the smartphone craze will dispel and people will once again embrace real experiences instead of virtual ones. This is inevitable, unless some new technology appears such as AI to begin a new era of the fall of the human race. Not only will androids take over but they'll turn all of us into dumb terminals.

For the record, our children are smarter than my wife and I.

Thanks for reading.