[Closed] Is the "dumbing down" of everything finally catching up with us?

Mouth organ?

*Googles mouth organ*

I like bikes.

you don't [i]have[/i] to dumb down. It's not like it's an official policy, or bad things will happen if you educate yourself.

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I know people joke about H&S gone mad, the nanny state, babysitting a nation etc etc and the "dumbing down" of everything from TV news reports and quiz shows to school tests - but at some point, taking away the need for people to use that "organ in their head" (so to speak) must cause it to atrophy??

The perception that things are worse than they used to be (in whatever way) is common but I'm not sure it's always real.

Dumbing down? Last time I looked, TVs still have an "off" button, Shakespeare, Proust and Plato are still in print, IT and Biotech are still huge growth sectors... I think individuals can dumb down as much or as little as they want.

Proust and Plato

Prefer Senna and Neal myself.

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The perception that things are worse than they used to be (in whatever way) is common but I'm not sure it's always real.

Yes - literacy levels among kids/teenagers are higher than a generation ago. And a generation before that they were leaving school at 14 and going to work in a mine or at the docks...

spekkie - Member

I know people joke about H&S gone mad, the nanny state, babysitting a nation etc etc and the "dumbing down" of everything from TV news reports and quiz shows to school tests - but at some point, taking away the need for people to use that "organ in their head" (so to speak) must cause it to atrophy??

Can you give any examples?

I've heard people say they News is dumbed down because they allow regional accents now.

I don't believe 'school tests' are any easier or harder than they used to be, certainly not since my school days - workload has gone up, they squeeze 6 lessons a day in now, used to be 4 in my day and my 10 year old does more homework in an evening than I did - well ever, but we had about an hour a week, he's doing half an hour a day.

I believe the opposite is true, I read the internet was 25 yesterday, but it's widespread use is not as old as that - everyone these days has access to unlimited data, so the requirement for 'knowledge' has changed - the truth was always "Genius is not knowing all the answers, but knowing where to look for them" and these days 'the answers' are easier to find than ever - the rate of human development is getting faster - dumbing down? Kids these days have useful, marketable skills that their parents didn't gain until way into adulthood and their grandparents never had.

Things change, old skills lose importance, new skills and requirements emerge - bemoaning that kids these days can't speak Latin or recite all the countries in the world just makes you out of touch.

Yes - literacy levels among kids/teenagers are higher than a generation ago

You may have four A*'s sonny, but you cannot problem solve your way out a paper bag or manage your own life without resorting to mummy....

Friend of mine is editor of GCSE maths textbooks, we were discussing A level Math recently and she was saying that the subjects she was doing in yr1 at Uni is now part of final year of A level course.

What Matt said!

Aye - exam attainment may be rising but the ability to work in an unfamiliar context or problem solve or even be slightly resilient is most definitely on the decrease.

middle aged bloke with life experience better at problem solving than 18 year old shock.
i suppose you popped out a fully formed problem solving machine at 18?

And a generation before that they were leaving school at 14 and going to work in a mine or at the docks...

Which shows, precisely, the level of ignorance. Both were skilled jobs requiring nous as well as nerve...
That's my fathers generation - a Royal Navy Dockyard shipwrights, fully conversant with how to work out the centre of gravity and centre of buoyancy of a warship (damaged or not) and calculate how she is going to settle onto the blocks during a dry-docking. And not a calculator of computer in sight.

And as for mining, well, mining geology is my speciality. I can show you any number of mine plans from 100 or so years ago where the survey accuracy is as good as you'd expect today - survey accuracy to the nearest millimetre (and I do mean mm, in an era when the rest of the U.K. were using imperial units!

nickc - Member 
Friend of mine is editor of GCSE maths textbooks, we were discussing A level Math recently and she was saying that the subjects she was doing in yr1 at Uni is now part of final year of A level course.

Back in the depths of time, when GCSE had just come in, the practice papers for A level maths and physics were often old O level papers.

Couldn't agree more. Politics is a prime example. The level of discussion and debate is at an all time ow and headed lower.

Matt outandabout, not a dig at all but could you (and all your mates) have solved all of your problems at 16 or 18? I know I certainly couldn't! Most of my mates would have struggled as well. Some could barely make the exams!

I think it's something that changes with a persons perception, as we get older, we get harder and assume that the 'youth of today' have it easier. I'm not saying that it is or isn't the case; I'm not in 2 places at once! But the world has changed massively since I was at school; which I only left 13 years ago

I agree with Jambs

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The inmates are now running the asylum

It's funny, I work in care and almost everyone I work with over about 45 treats kids who have suffered abuse and neglect or who have autism or other learning disabilities like shit. No matter how many times I explain to them that a child behaves a certain way because he is Autistic, they still look at me bemused, like he's doing it to piss them off. Most of the younger staff (even the ones without all these degrees they have these days) are able to empathise far more easily and can put together care plans based on sound analysis and an understanding of who they are dealing with.
As we get older, we think we are awesome and everyone younger than us is shit. This is not wisdom and should not be confused as such. Stop being such a bunch of moody old bastards.

Also, problem solving? Are you kidding me?
Admittedly, dem yoot might not be able to change the distributor on a Morris minor, but they're usually too busy fixing Nan's computer after she told the nice man on the phone her IP address...

Plenty of dumbing down been going on for centuries.

If you've never heard dumbed down news then listen to radio 1 sometime, it's horrendous, no word longer than 3 syllables allowed and the whole lot is written as if it's being explained to a toddler, the amount of times they stop to say "that means...." when it couldn't be any more obvious from the ridiculously simple, self explanatory description is laughable.

I'm 28, and an out and proud radio 4 convert.

When i was at school one of our year got two A grades at A level, that made the front page of the local paper. It was a good school as well.

Somewhere around 2007 half the world acquired functional telepathy.

No wonder we are having difficulty adjusting to the resulting changes.

with all the amazing advances in technology and the availability of less biased information I cannot help feeling that things have somehow not improved or advanced as they should have and in some cases are certainly worse.

or maybe the human species is really full of self centred,cruel and selfish crap by nature and there is no hope...

with all the amazing advances in technology and the availability of less biased information I cannot help feeling that things have somehow not improved or advanced as they should have and in some cases are certainly worse.

or maybe the human species is really full of self centred,cruel and selfish crap by nature and there is no hope...

have a read of this with your morning brew. it's getting better 🙂

https://medium.com/@angushervey/the-decline-of-war-8760f9a5b5ce#.awvxnbxxh