Are you worried that your phone is making you dumber?
Are you concerned that the hours you spend doomscrolling are slowly killing your brain cells? How about the ever-looming threat of an AI takeover? Are we really heading down a path of no return, one where we become stupid and useless while technology takes control of our lives?
I’m sure you’ve seen some of these ideas swirling over the past decade: fears that overreliance on technology is creating passive learners, lazy workers, and a worse-off population overall. There are reports of children not knowing how to read, increased use of phones while driving, and declining critical thinking skills now that answers are right at our fingertips. Based on this, it would be reasonable to assume that technology is sucking the intelligence out of us right before our eyes. But there may be something else at play.
Writing, Television, and Tech, Oh My!
Do you consider writing to be a useful skill? You may be surprised to learn that Socrates was HEAVILY opposed to it. In his opinion, writing would mean that we no longer needed to remember things for ourselves and could instead rely on external records. He was greatly concerned that people would gain the appearance of wisdom, without truly understanding anything.
The invention of television brought about a similar reaction in the 1950s. The concern was that people would replace reading with television, shortening attention spans, discouraging learning, and weakening intellectual development.
It seems that throughout history, major concerns regarding technological innovation were largely the same. Life would become “too easy”. We would no longer have to use our brains, leading to a passive, easily exploitable population.
Is there any truth behind these claims? In some cases, sure. In others, however the opposite is true. Why is that? How can technology be making us both dumber and smarter at the same time?
To Use or Not to Use…
The question you should be asking is not “is technology making me dumber?”
It’s “is the way that I am using technology making me dumber?”
Let’s use AI chatbots as an example.
I’m sure you have someone in your life who uses some form of AI chatbot for everything. Basic answers to basic questions? AI chatbot. Medical issues? AI chatbot. Someone to agree with everything they say? AI chatbot.
This is a great example of passive use. In this scenario, all the person wants from the chatbot is an answer. There is no effort to work with it to refine results, ask deeper questions, or gain new knowledge.
Now, let’s look at another way of using AI chatbots.
When writing this blog, I did use an AI Chatbot to help me. But how I used it made all the difference.
It would have been easy to say “hey chat, write me a blog about whether technology is making us dumber,” copy, paste, and publish the result. This may seem like a loophole, and in a way it is. However, that approach does not exercise your cognitive abilities at all.
Instead, I started with a basic prompt, asking for a general outline on the research that has been done and whether there is a direct connection between technology use and declining intelligence.
From there, I asked it more questions. I requested examples of innovations throughout history that people initially opposed. I looked at real-life examples of how I use large language models compared with how some of my peers use them. I asked it for examples from research that either confirmed or denied my question. Whatever other questions came to mind, I also threw at it.
I then took the information the chatbot provided, combined it with my own ideas, and wrote the blog in my own words, using examples from both the chatbot and my personal experience.
That is the difference between passive and active use of an AI chatbot.
So… Is Technology Making Me Dumber?
So, what is the answer then? Is technology making us dumber?
Not in and of itself.
It is the way we use technology that can make the difference between strengthening our intelligence and allowing our thinking skills to weaken. Technology gives us a choice: we can take the easy route and allow it to do everything for us, or we can take the more challenging route, and learn how to work with it to expand our knowledge.
The choice between passive consumption and active learning has, and always will be, our own.
