Aardvark Daily

Please visit the sponsor!

Why I fear for the future

Let me start today's column by admitting that I am old.

In fact, if I stop and think about things, I am *very* old.

In the past week alone I've seen a number of "names" from the days of my youth pass away. Rolf Harris (love him or despise him), Tina Turner, Stuart Sutcliffe (former Beatles' bass player), Andy Rourke (bass player from The Smiths), and a raft of others have shuffled their mortal coil, some at much younger age than myself.

So yes, my views and opinions are probably significantly affected by the fact that I've been around for a while and, as a result, I'm probably not as open to change and alternative viewpoints as I once might have been.

Right, that's got the disclaimer out of the way so on with the monologue.

I fear for the future of our species for a number of reasons.

Firstly, we seem to be getting stupider.

For many years, the IQ of the species has been increasing, something often referred to as the Flynn effect.

It would be easy to suggest that this is simply an extension of the effect if evolution as it has applied to mankind over many millennia -- the more intelligent amongst us having an evolutionary advantage over the less intelligent.

However, it seems that this trend has reversed in very recent times, as suggested in this report.

The closing line of that report states:

but is that really the case?

The article speculates that this decline could be caused by falling nutrition standards, worsening of the education system or social media.

My vote is that the latter has a hell of a lot to do with things.

Don't get me wrong, I think some aspects of social media are great. Hell, I make my living from social media these days so I can't complain about it, can I?

Well not all social media is created equally.

For a brief while I did spend some time on Facebook but, after a few short months, decided that it was, overall, a toxic place that did my mental health and outlook on the world no good at all. Many of the pages on Facebook are simply a sparring-ground for trolls and those who wish to bring others down, perhaps in an attempt to elevate themselves.

Life (at least *my* life) is too short for such nonsense so now I'm not a Facebook user except for occasionally checking to see if anyone has tried to contact me through that channel.

TikTok has come in for a lot of bad press but I can honestly say that I've not used TikTok, therefore I'm probably not qualified to comment on it. Except to say... it is "shortform content" that must obviously appeal to those with a limited attention span and I think it's fair to say that attention-span and IQ are probably related.

When I read about all the "TikTok challenges" that encourage people to risk their own health, safety or even lives by showing that they're stupid enough to emulate other morons solely for the sake of some clicks and "likes", I think that adds veracity to my assumptions regarding this platform.

Okay, if there are any younger readers of this column they're probably already hammering the forums with comments containing the term "BOOMER" and castigating me for my old-fashioned and biased perceptions. Fair enough.

So what about YouTube -- the platform where I engage in my "social mediaing"?

Well I chose YouTube as *my* preferred platform because it used to be a place where you could learn stuff, be entertained and voice your opinion to the world, whilst seeing what other people's opinions are -- largely without the conflict and vitriol associated with more immediately interactive platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.

I know I have learned an awful lot of stuff from YouTube videos and spend perhaps far too much time "refreshing" on stuff I learned many years ago and have since forgotten - such as maths, physics, etc. Being able to watch a lecture at your own pace at a time of your choosing makes YouTube an invaluable resource for those who want to lift their own knowledge and understanding.

In a way, YouTube has become the very thing that they told us TV would be, when it was first launched... an educational medium that could enrich the lives of everyone.

Of course that doesn't mean that YouTube is devoid of the crap that numbs the mind and erodes the soul. There's plenty of dross on YouTube and, since they decided to do away with the "thumbs down" total or any kind of star-rating system (as used to be the case) it is now harder to avoid that stuff. Thanks YouTube!

And therein lies the problem.

Even YouTube is now catering to the rapidly falling "average IQ" of the human race.

Instead of high-quality entertaining or educational long-form content, YouTube is now pushing "shorts" on both creators and viewers.

This (often mindless) short-form video content is the very thing that has turned TikTok into a platform for those with short attention spans (and matching IQs).

Let's hope the relationship between cause and effect isn't a two-way street. I sure hope that watching this short-form mindless content doesn't have a negative affect on one's attention-span and IQ; but I fear it may well do.

Sadly, due to the way the human mind works, it's quite likely that if all you're fed is a diet of mindless short-form video content then eventually, that's all you'll want to watch and, if there is a direct correlation between short attention spans and IQ then that reduction in the average global IQ will continue to decline, markedly.

That will, of course, suit YouTube, Facebook, TikTok and all the companies that advertise on these platforms because those with a lower-IQ are more likely to believe the slick advertising pitches made by those who hawk their products through these platforms.

Is it just coincidence therefore that I'm seeing a marked increase in the number of obviously scammy ads for things like "free electricity generators" and "electric heaters that recycle heat energy" on YouTube? I would suggest that scammers are capitalising on the fact that YouTube's shift from long-form content to "shorts" is attracting those of a low IQ or perhaps even dumbing down the average to such an extent that these scams are easy to pull off.

Despite many, many requests, YouTube still refuses to allow its viewers to filter out shorts from search results or subscriptions -- clearly indicating that it is also their intention to attract/create a gullible audience that is easy pickings for its advertisers.

Yeah, I fear for the future of the species when huge mega-corporations are so intent on "dumbing us down" for their own commercial gain.

Carpe Diem folks!

Please visit the sponsor!

Have your say in the Aardvark Forums.

PERMALINK to this column

Rank This Aardvark Page

Change Font