The Great Dumbing Down: How Tech Is Making Us Weaker and Calling It Progress
- Michael Routhier
- 4 days ago
- 6 min read
Let me ask you something.
When was the last time you were bored?
Not "waiting for your coffee" bored. Genuinely, uncomfortably, nothing-to-do bored. No phone in your hand. No podcast in your ears. Nothing to scroll through. Just you and your own thoughts.
Can you even remember? I'm not sure I can.
I've been thinking about this for a long time, longer than I've been comfortable admitting, and I want to talk about it honestly today. Because I think something is happening to us. Not to some abstract "society." To us. To you. To the people in this community who tell me week after week that they feel left behind, left out, and quietly ashamed about it.
And here's what I need you to hear; that shame is not yours. It was manufactured. And it was manufactured on purpose.
It's Not a Glitch. It's a Feature.
The average smartphone interface gets a significant redesign every 18 to 24 months.
Think about that for a second. Not because the old version stopped working. Not because you asked for something different. Because change creates dependency.
Every time they move a button, rename a menu, redesign a settings page; you have to come back to them. You have to ask for help. You have to feel, even briefly, like you don't know what you're doing.
For a lot of people, that brief feeling of confusion becomes their permanent relationship with technology. I can't figure this out. I must not be smart enough.
That is not your failure. That is their product.
I talk to people in this community every week, people in their 60s, 70s, 80s, who are sharp, capable, experienced, and still feel genuinely embarrassed about struggling with technology. One woman told me last year she'd avoided asking for help with her iPhone for two years because she didn't want her grandchildren to think she was losing it.
Two years. She wasn't losing anything. She was being systematically confused by design decisions made in boardrooms by people who had absolutely nothing to lose from her confusion.
What the Research Actually Says
I want to share a few things with you. Not to scare you. Because you deserve to know what the science says.
A 2023 study published in JAMA Pediatrics found that children who spent more time on screens showed measurably reduced development in the areas of the brain responsible for language, attention, and self-regulation.
A Stanford University study found that heavy digital multitasking, the kind every teenager does every single night, impairs the brain's ability to filter irrelevant information and sustain focus.
And in 2022, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, America's largest standardized testing program, showed that reading scores for 9-year-olds dropped by the largest margin ever recorded in the history of that test. The largest. Ever. In a test that's been running for decades.
We are watching children's capacity for deep, independent, effortful thought erode in real time. And then we're handing them another screen and calling it education.
But here's the thing I really want to say; this is not just a children's problem.
A University of Texas study found that simply having your smartphone on your desk; face down, turned off, not in your hand, measurably reduces your available cognitive capacity. The phone doesn't have to be on. Just having it nearby pulls mental bandwidth away from whatever you're actually trying to do
And GPS navigation has measurably reduced activity in the hippocampus, the part of your brain responsible for spatial reasoning and memory formation. People who rely on GPS instead of navigating independently show reduced gray matter in that region over time.
We are outsourcing our brains. One convenience at a time.
The Part Nobody Wants to Say Out Loud
I use AI. I want to be upfront about that. It helps me in my work.
But there is a profound difference between using a tool and being used by one.
Epictetus, and worth noting, this was a man who spent years as a slave, said; "No man is free who is not master of himself." A tool that thinks for you, writes for you, decides for you, remembers for you. What does that make you? If you outsource enough of your reasoning, enough of your judgment, what exactly is left?
That's not a philosophical question anymore. It's a measurable, neurological one.
And then there's the layer that I think deserves a full conversation on its own. Facebook's own internal research, research they tried to suppress, showed that their algorithms deliberately amplified outrage-inducing content because outrage keeps people scrolling. They knew it was making people angrier, more anxious, more divided. They kept going because it was profitable.
The apps designed for children were built using the same psychological techniques as slot machines. Variable reward, unpredictable feedback, the endless pull to find out what's next. Deliberately engineered to hook a developing brain.
And many AI subscription tools have a direct financial incentive for you to remain dependent. Not to become more capable and confident. To keep coming back. Think about that.
What Seneca Said About Fear
Seneca wrote; "It is not that I am brave, but that I know what is worth fearing."
Here is what is worth fearing.
A generation of children who cannot read deeply, cannot focus, cannot tolerate the discomfort of not knowing, entering a world that will demand exactly those skills from them.
A generation of older adults who have been systematically excluded from digital life, left to navigate it alone, vulnerable to predators who have studied that vulnerability and built entire industries around exploiting it.
And a society so dependent on algorithmic thinking and AI-generated content that we have quietly, gradually, without anyone asking permission, handed over the steering wheel.
If we do not course-correct now, the question in twenty years will not be whether AI is smarter than us. The question will be whether we remember how to think at all.
What You Can Actually Do
I'm not telling you to throw your phone in the lake. I would never.
But Marcus Aurelius wrote; "You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this and you will find strength."
The power over your mind is what's at stake here. And there are trillion-dollar companies whose entire business model depends on taking it from you without you noticing.
So here's what I'm asking:
Read something hard. A book, a long article, something that requires you to slow down and pay attention.
Navigate somewhere without GPS. Use a map. Use your memory. Use the part of your brain that's been getting rusty.
Have a conversation without Googling the answer. Sit with not knowing for a moment. It's okay. You'll survive the discomfort.
Write a letter. An actual letter. To someone you care about. Without asking AI to help you find the words.
Not because technology is evil. Because struggle is how the brain stays strong. That principle has been true for every generation that ever lived. It doesn't make an exception for us.
Before You Go, I Want to Hear From You
I'm genuinely curious about something.
Do you feel like technology has made you sharper, or do you notice yourself reaching for your phone before you've even had a chance to think? Have you caught yourself asking AI for something that, a few years ago, you would have just figured out yourself?
No judgment at all. I ask because I notice it in myself too, and I think honest conversations about this matter a lot more than pretending it isn't happening.
Drop it in the comments. And if someone in your life needs to hear this today; a parent, a child, a friend, please share it. This conversation needs more people in it.
Research Referenced
JAMA Pediatrics - Screen Time and Brain Development (2023): jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics
Stanford University - Digital Multitasking and Cognitive Filtering: news.stanford.edu/stories/2009/08/multitasking-research-study-082409
NAEP - 2022 Reading Score Report: nationsreportcard.gov/highlights/reading/2022
University of Texas - Smartphone Presence and Cognitive Capacity: mccombs.utexas.edu/research/publications/brain-drain-mere-presence-smartphone
Wall Street Journal — Facebook's Internal Research on Algorithmic Outrage: wsj.com/articles/facebook-knows-instagram-is-toxic-for-teen-girls-company-documents-show-11631620739
— Michael Routhier, Founder of Tech 4 Grown-Ups. I run free digital safety seminars for adults 55+ and write about tech threats as they happen. Learn more about me →