Current Events > Do you think kids today are less intelligent than previous generations?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Basically every kid nowadays is unable to form coherent sentences until they're four. That's like an entire year later than usual. Of course it has to affect their ability to learn in school because now they have to catch up on a year's worth of learning that was previously a given. This is only seen in the West, where kids are raised on iPads. We're going to fall to some other country who does not deal with this detriment, among many others.

100% yes. Kids are fucking stupid these days >_>

Naw.

In some ways yes and in other ways they're much smarter

No because the previous generations are the ones that keep voting Republican.

Today on "Things Every Generation Starts Saying When They Get Old"...

One of the negatives of the internet is that people will generally become stupider over time because of information overload. Not just kids.

Nah, kids are dumb as shit, just like we were dumb as shit then too.

everyone knows that humanity literally gets smarter every generation but that won't stop annoying cemen from making up dumb shit

My mother's been teaching for 20 years in a well-funded district and it's getting to the point where teachers are either quitting or just completely giving up and phoning everything in. The stories she tells me sometimes are absolutely dumbfounding.

Trumble posted...

Today on "Things Every Generation Starts Saying When They Get Old"...

I dunno, it might be legit with this gen. They don't have to learn nearly as much because they have access to a device that can recall everything for them. So their ability to retain knowledge might be a little more compromised.

InfinityMonster posted...

One of the negatives of the internet is that people will generally become stupider over time because of information overload. Not just kids.

You just completely made that up lol.

My niece has a level of understanding of people at 16 that I didn't have until my mid 20s.

It depends on the kid. I think they're emotionally more mature than us. Which I think is part of the reason they can become depressed easier. I feel like a lot of people have the habit of comparing their best traits as a kid to the worst traits of the kids of a newer generation. You see what you want to see to an extent. And that includes my perspective.

Also, a lot of you admit you don't even hang around kids and they annoy you lol. So, if your only insight is from seeing online vids of the worst behaved kids, obviously you'd think that.

No.

No. The issues were always there, we just have more visibility and knowledge than in the past.

Ivynn posted...

I dunno, it might be legit with this gen. They don't have to learn nearly as much because they have access to a device that can recall everything for them. So their ability to retain knowledge might be a little more compromised.

My dad used to say the same thing about my generation because they couldn't take a car engine apart and put it back together.

As technology and generations change, how we gauge "intelligence" changes as well.

Someone in Middle America would say a Ivy League Scholar isn't intelligent because they wouldn't be able to keep a farm or a ranch operational.

Even things like "general knowledge" can't be measured properly because that also varies by demographic and location.

Neo posted...

No. The issues were always there, we just have more visibility and knowledge than in the past.

That's the contradiction of the information age, isn't it? We have easier access to so much information yet people are dumber than ever. >_>

IQ has recently gone down for the first time ever, so I'm going to say that tech addiction is likely having an effect.

https://www.iflscience.com/iq-scores-in-the-us-have-recently-dropped-for-first-time-this-century-67907

bigblu89 posted...

My dad used to say the same thing about my generation because they couldn't take a car engine apart and put it back together.

As technology and generations change, how we gauge "intelligence" changes as well.

Someone in Middle America would say a Ivy League Scholar isn't intelligent because they wouldn't be able to keep a farm or a ranch operational.

Even things like "general knowledge" can't be measured properly because that also varies by demographic and location.

You know what? That's a fair point. There are different types of intelligence. Kids might be dumb by the old ways of intelligence, but they'll probably be smart in new ways.

Ivynn posted...

That's the contradiction of the information age, isn't it? We have easier access to so much information yet people are dumber than ever. >_>

too much information and people don't know how to sort out the truth from the falsehoods. It's what's crushing us.

Ivynn posted...

That's the contradiction of the information age, isn't it? We have easier access to so much information yet people are dumber than ever. >_>

If knowledge is the raw information, wisdom would be how to use said knowledge.

To put it another way: "Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat"

CRON posted...

My mother's been teaching for 20 years in a well-funded district and it's getting to the point where teachers are either quitting or just completely giving up and phoning everything in. The stories she tells me sometimes are absolutely dumbfounding.

My stepmom is also a teacher and reflects this as well.

How many toddlers do you know?

Kids these days have the potential to be exposed to the most intelligence of any generation. They also have the potential to get exposed to the most out there stupidity. Kids arent built with the ability to distinguish the stupid from smart so both extremes are plausible.

Boomers keep on asking zoomers how to fix their email, so no.

Ivynn posted...

That's the contradiction of the information age, isn't it? We have easier access to so much information yet people are dumber than ever. >_>

Probably because it's so easy to get the information, no one needs to retain the information.

Ivynn posted...

people are dumber than ever

[citation needed]

Smarter, but inexperienced like most youth. Doesnt stop them from thinking theyre always right, like most youth.

Same as it ever was.

Choco posted...

everyone knows that humanity literally gets smarter every generation but that won't stop annoying cemen from making up dumb shit

But studies are showing that's stopped. They can't figure out why.

Choco posted...

[citation needed]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_lAb8m9MpI

Hell, my wife and I told our son to go to his room the other day so we could have a private conversation. He said sure but left his phone out set to record so he could listen later. Kids are smart. He's nine, for what it's worth.

TheHoldSteady posted...

too much information and people don't know how to sort out the truth from the falsehoods. It's what's crushing us.

That seems more of a problem for older people, not younger.

77% of Millennials and voting age GenZers voted Democrat in the midterms.

The kids are smarter than you think.

Dae think music today also sucks? And what's up with these smart phones, back in my day we walked uphill both ways to pull ourselves up with our bootstraps. They don't make em how they used to, anyone else feel like back in the day, chivalry wasn't dead? Today's rap is all about drugs and money. Remember? Yesteryear, anyone else feel that way? Today is nothing like yesterday, back in the day. Remember the glory years? They don't do it like that anymore. Today's kids wouldn't survive then. And what's up with all that? It wasn't around back then, we didn't need that. Remember? It had an old school feel, not new age crap like today.

Previous generations are the ones that gave us Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Donald Trump.

No, I don't think kids today are less intelligent than previous generations.

No and they will fuck you up at CoD for even considering it

I dont know what you mean by coherent sentences but toddlers do speak in a funny way and thats very normal

My daughter turns 2 in a little over a week. We actually think she might be more intelligent than both of us. Shes very advanced.

• Can speak 4-5 word sentences. Yesterday said her first 6 word sentence
• Can say over 300 words (I stopped counting)
• Knows all colors including black, brown and white
• Can count to 20
• Knows basic and complex shapes: circle, triangle, square, star, heart, oval and even octagon
• Hit all her physical milestones early, leading to her walking at 10 months
• Is learning to count objects. She can do 2-3 objects but for more will always be a number off or so (like shell count 10 when there are 9, etc)

We dont really limit screen time because we think thats overblown. But we do take time to sit with her and read books and teach her stuff all the time. Her mind is a little sponge. And we dont let her walk over us. A lot of people do gentle parenting which is just passive parenting. We are more authoritative (but or course never tell and no spanking)

Cleo_II posted...

I dont know what you mean by coherent sentences but toddlers do speak in a funny way and thats very normal

My niece is 7 and because of how I talk, she now puts random vocal changes on words and sentences lol. It's so funny and adorable when she does it. Kind of like how Nicki Minaj does in Monster

COVxy posted...

You just completely made that up lol.

Nah. Even if we ignore the psychological aspects, the internet is largely unfiltered and most people have piss poor media literacy. All algorithms are set up to get you to click the stuff that gets you to keep clicking. People believe the wildest shit nowadays. This can include otherwise smart people.

Yeah, in a perfect world, it shouldn't be like this and I'm not even saying it's gotten really bad yet. Over time, I don't see it getting better since it's only ramped up in recent years.

https://unmistakablecreative.com/information-overload/

DKBananaSlamma posted...

100% yes. Kids are fucking stupid these days >_>

agree.

look at 80s cartoons and anime and now look at todays fucking cartoons like gumball, Steven universe, sponge bob, etc

Another_Voice posted...

Basically every kid nowadays is unable to form coherent sentences until they're four. That's like an entire year later than usual. Of course it has to affect their ability to learn in school because now they have to catch up on a year's worth of learning that was previously a given. This is only seen in the West, where kids are raised on iPads. We're going to fall to some other country who does not deal with this detriment, among many others.

[citation needed]

The average person today would have been considered a genius compared to someone born in 1919 -- https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190709-has-humanity-reached-peak-intelligence

CRON posted...

My mother's been teaching for 20 years in a well-funded district and it's getting to the point where teachers are either quitting or just completely giving up and phoning everything in. The stories she tells me sometimes are absolutely dumbfounding.

InTheEyesOfFire posted...

My stepmom is also a teacher and reflects this as well.

Like what stories? I haven't been in school in years so I'm curious what the zeitgeist is like for kids.

Ohhhhh so that is why ppl say to listen to ur elders . They are part of a more intelligent and refined generation

Cleo_II posted...

We dont really limit screen time because we think thats overblown. But we do take time to sit with her and read books and teach her stuff all the time. Her mind is a little sponge. And we dont let her walk over us. A lot of people do gentle parenting which is just passive parenting. We are more authoritative (but or course never tell and no spanking)

Boundaries are important for kids, socially as much as to make your own lives easier. My kids are very bright and have ridiculous amounts of energy. If we didnt establish firm, consistent boundaries and logical, proportionate consequences with them, it would be doing them a disservice later in life.

InfinityMonster posted...

Nah. Even if we ignore the psychological aspects, the internet is largely unfiltered and most people have piss poor media literacy. All algorithms are set up to get you to click the stuff that gets you to keep clicking. People believe the wildest shit nowadays. This can include otherwise smart people.

Yeah, in a perfect world, it shouldn't be like this and I'm not even saying it's gotten really bad yet. Over time, I don't see it getting better since it's only ramped up in recent years.

https://unmistakablecreative.com/information-overload/

"Information overload" isn't a thing. When presented with a resource with information, what people do is offload their cognitive load. They don't need to memorize a bunch of things because they can just look them up. This frees up mental effort for other, often more creative, tasks.

I don't think kids today are overall stupider. I just think the gap between the smart kids and the dumb kids is larger than ever. There are way too many kids in schools with behavior problems, mental problems, kids that can't even write their own name, or can't even go to the bathroom by themselves. And these are 4th grade kids that my mom is supposed to try and teach.