zlacker

It's the dumbing down of society, but the worst of it is concerning the average "Joe and Jane" in America. Why is it the worst, because they are a huge voting block.

I'm a high school grad who had no desire to go to college, but I've always had a love of reading and usually questioned everything. I made a living in the trades and have very little complaints. I worked with hundreds of people, both young and old, and noticed something most had in common. Most cared very little for learning anything outside of just getting by. I saw very few with a book in their hands and was questioned many times as to why I was reading! I was even told I would never need to know that, when reading about technology.

I'm trying not to be overly critical, but I still don't understand why knowledge to them wasn't valued. I'm also afraid it's being reflected in society today based on the blatant refusal to read today's happenings and the lack of wisdom to interpret the possible outcomes, or to even care.

>>bloomi+(OP)
I suspect that people are reading more than you think, but instead of long form content like books, it's now short form content like tweets and Facebook posts. And of course video content from YouTube and tiktok instead of the television we had back in the day.

>>bloomi+(OP)
My mother is 70 years old and has never bothered to learn how to change the volume of the tv using a controller. My father was recently in the hospital and she had to learn how to put gas in her car.

I love her, but it's truly mind boggling how little she cares about learning stuff.

>>amanap+fd
Sometimes I feel like the word "reading" should be reserved for reading longer-form content like articles, blog posts, books, etc.

Your mind goes into a completely different state when you are immersed in a single topic vs when you are consuming textual content that causes context switches every 10 seconds.