I have been reading quite a lot about the supposed intellectual and emotional decline observed in Gen Alpha kids, due to the ubiquity of smartphones, predigested content, lack of personal interaction and similar related malices, and there seems to be some truth to it.
However: I am convinced that all this is not a generational issue, it's a civilisatory one.
I, being a GenXer, having grown up with electronic, but not digital media, also see my attention span decreasing and find myself
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Replying to @mina@berlin.social
recurring to my little pocket helper at way too many opportunities.
Now listen:
I am currently enrolled in a one year full time course in data science, my class mates' ages are between 26 and 60, and I see them all the time consulting chatbots for their assignments and projects, instead of looking into the course materials or online resources (or God forbid: just try and try again, until things work out), all this whilst 1:1 human tutoring is also available.
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Replying to @mina@berlin.social
All this brings me back to the starting point:
Kids are not getting dumber, they're just the focal mirror of all of us handing over our cognitive sovereignty to machines, i.e. to the corporations that control them.
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Replying to @mina@berlin.social
@mina But it's soooo convenient!
/rant