This is the perfect complement to a recent article I read in the WSJ Review. The title: Does AI make you stupid... the author used personal experience and it struck true. He's an American living in France, and has over time gotten good speaking/writing in French, although he still struggles. Pressed by time (aren't we all), he decided to use AI to write a long note to his kids' teacher. He edited a few things in there, but basically used the text provided. It was convenient, so he kept doing it, to summarize tech papers, etc. Then he realized, horrified, that he started having trouble with writing simple texts to friends... He was losing his French. Climbing out of the pit was tough. "Use it or lose it", right?
Is it possible to retrain ourselves? I just reread A Tale of Two Cities after about 40 (!) years and enjoyed it. I'd forgotten how funny Dickens can be.
This is all rather horrifying. As a 911 dispatcher, I feel like I’ve indirectly seen a lot of the impact from this in the types of calls I take. I can’t quantify it, but I can say the nature of the calls I get just feels as if it reflects this. I also feel like I see the impact in the attitudes of many first responders (including my fellow dispatchers). In many ways, the pandemic seemed to worsen it, which seems counterintuitive to me, but it’s what I’ve seen. Far too often I’ve had reason to say “It’s like people have forgotten how to people.”
It's frightening, that's for sure. I didn't say it in the post, but someone very close to me has almost completely lost the ability to follow any TV show. Plot twists, character names... I have to explain things to this person over and over. I've noticed a difference in myself, too. For work, I used to have to read lots of dry, complicated material. Now, it's struggle to concentrate on this kind of stuff.
I can feel this in my own reading, but also wonder how much of it is life stage (the busy forties vs the idle youth). I remember the Atlantic or someone had an article called “Is Google Making Us Stupid” back in maybe 2008, and I had no problems reading dense philosophy and such back then
Just wait till you hit the 60s! But I hear from parents and teachers that young'uns can't get through assignments anymore, and from younger folks themselves that they have a hard time sticking to reading anything (so much skimming). I think there is something there, and maybe there should be programs in school to help with this (those 20 min. sessions, or something)
This rings so true for me. I was slow to learn to read, but then found that reading saved my life. It was an escape to new worlds. At one point I had the patience to read big, dense tomes like Anna Karenina (I was a Russian major), but now I get impatient if the book doesn't get moving within the first 60 or so pages. I feel I've lost my concentration. Lost my ability slow down and read deeply.
Me, too. I'm reading a book now where the voice is of a person from a different culture and I'm finding it tough sledding--and it shouldn't be! It wouldn't have been in the past. Yikes.
As an English professor I’ve noticed this trend of students, even bright ones, having the inability to read what are now complex (to them) books. Even shorter and more accessible works are met with boredom, apathy and/or frustration.
This is the perfect complement to a recent article I read in the WSJ Review. The title: Does AI make you stupid... the author used personal experience and it struck true. He's an American living in France, and has over time gotten good speaking/writing in French, although he still struggles. Pressed by time (aren't we all), he decided to use AI to write a long note to his kids' teacher. He edited a few things in there, but basically used the text provided. It was convenient, so he kept doing it, to summarize tech papers, etc. Then he realized, horrified, that he started having trouble with writing simple texts to friends... He was losing his French. Climbing out of the pit was tough. "Use it or lose it", right?
It's insane how quickly it happens, too. We think of human bodies needing a long time to adapt but that doesn't seem to be the case.
Because we're also wired to be lazy, it's the engine of progress :)
Is it possible to retrain ourselves? I just reread A Tale of Two Cities after about 40 (!) years and enjoyed it. I'd forgotten how funny Dickens can be.
My hat's off to you!
This is all rather horrifying. As a 911 dispatcher, I feel like I’ve indirectly seen a lot of the impact from this in the types of calls I take. I can’t quantify it, but I can say the nature of the calls I get just feels as if it reflects this. I also feel like I see the impact in the attitudes of many first responders (including my fellow dispatchers). In many ways, the pandemic seemed to worsen it, which seems counterintuitive to me, but it’s what I’ve seen. Far too often I’ve had reason to say “It’s like people have forgotten how to people.”
It's frightening, that's for sure. I didn't say it in the post, but someone very close to me has almost completely lost the ability to follow any TV show. Plot twists, character names... I have to explain things to this person over and over. I've noticed a difference in myself, too. For work, I used to have to read lots of dry, complicated material. Now, it's struggle to concentrate on this kind of stuff.
I can feel this in my own reading, but also wonder how much of it is life stage (the busy forties vs the idle youth). I remember the Atlantic or someone had an article called “Is Google Making Us Stupid” back in maybe 2008, and I had no problems reading dense philosophy and such back then
Just wait till you hit the 60s! But I hear from parents and teachers that young'uns can't get through assignments anymore, and from younger folks themselves that they have a hard time sticking to reading anything (so much skimming). I think there is something there, and maybe there should be programs in school to help with this (those 20 min. sessions, or something)
This rings so true for me. I was slow to learn to read, but then found that reading saved my life. It was an escape to new worlds. At one point I had the patience to read big, dense tomes like Anna Karenina (I was a Russian major), but now I get impatient if the book doesn't get moving within the first 60 or so pages. I feel I've lost my concentration. Lost my ability slow down and read deeply.
Me, too. I'm reading a book now where the voice is of a person from a different culture and I'm finding it tough sledding--and it shouldn't be! It wouldn't have been in the past. Yikes.
As an English professor I’ve noticed this trend of students, even bright ones, having the inability to read what are now complex (to them) books. Even shorter and more accessible works are met with boredom, apathy and/or frustration.