Shucking Oysters: And Another Thing
By Alex Allen
Every summer, usually around the middle of August, I notice a large section of Hornby residents suddenly become cranky. Everything seems magnified 1000X. I hear it at work. I see it in the Co-op parking lot. The passion is intense. And most of these are retired folks. Then there’s the ones who sweetly say, “Relax, it’s only another month.” This flippant, cursory comment does not help those of us who work on the front line. It’s not a hug; it’s a wedgie.
There are a lot of people on our island right now. What I’ve noticed is how many visitors are here for the first time. In fact, this year, I’ve barely recognized any of the “regulars.” Those that I have, are reluctant to return. Why? Too many people. All the places that they once cherished are overwhelmed. Driving from A to B is now A to G, an obstacle course of fast bikers, slow drivers, distracted walkers, and mindless wanderers. The number of huge RVs and “camping” trailers on our wee island is very noticeable. And it’s not just empty-nesters driving or pulling those 45-foot hotels on wheels, it’s the millennial’s as well. Outdoor nature with hotel comforts for all.
First-time visitors may come with their smartphones but are dumbfounded about everything. Like is there a grocery store, where you can buy alcohol, or how do you get to the beach. Indirectly may be a far more scenic route, but ignorantly? Common sense, attention spans and knowledge are rare events it seems. Almost everyone is staring down at their screens (ignoring their dogs and children). Many visitors seem to be using Hornby simply as a backdrop for selfies, rarely looking up at the ocean, let alone each other. Getting liked for how you look in a thong is not a recipe for happiness.
But are we getting dumber? One prominent theory is that the decline isn’t genetic but environmental – a reflection of how digital technology is reshaping our brains. Today’s youth grow up immersed in a world of screens, scrolling, and superficial content. Many people are absorbing the thoughts not of experts or educators but of influencers, bloggers, and pseudo-celebrities – some of whom couldn’t pass a high school entrance exam. It’s about a culture in which intellectual laziness is not only tolerated but increasingly rewarded.
As Hara Estroff Marano wrote, “when celebrity status trumps expertise, when emotional outrage outweighs rational discourse, and when the loudest voice wins over the most informed – what hope is there for cognitive resilience?” Neuroscientist Daniel Levitin noted that each time we check our social media, it is the “dumb, novelty-seeking portion of the brain” that induces this feeling of pleasure, “not the planning, scheduling, higher-level thought centers in the prefrontal cortex.”
We are no longer Homo sapiens, we are becoming Homo idioticus – “defined not by wisdom or logic but by misinformation and intellectual inertia.” The term may sound harsh, but consider the evidence: falling IQs, widespread functional illiteracy, declining media literacy, and as Marano continued, a “cultural environment in which critical thinking is a niche skill, not a norm.”
Many of these declines in cognitive skills surfaced in the mid-2010s, exactly when smartphones became the norm and the “digital attention economy” exploded. As research shows, this timing is no coincidence. One study showed that consuming short-form video content, like on Instagram, is associated with poor cognition and attention span. The growth of AI will introduce even more cognitive challenges. This is worrisome, when we know that thinking is what lets us make sense of all the crazy information in this complicated world.
A Dutch study on smartphone bans in high schools reported that three-quarters of the schools had improved focus and two-thirds reported that the ‘social climate’ improved in their school. Developing minds don’t just need focus developed ones do as well. As Cal Newport wrote in his book, Digital Minimalism, “smartphones have reshaped people’s experience of the world by providing an always-present connection to a humming matrix of chatter and distraction.”
Everyone benefits from regular doses of solitude. It’s not about “getting away” from the environment around you, it’s about what’s happening in your brain. Solitude Deprivation Syndrome. We are not wired to be constantly wired. Turn off and tune in.
The transformation of the smartphone from an occasional useful tool to something you can never be without is alarming. Young people worry that even a temporary disconnection will lead to FOMO. Parents worry that their kid’s won’t be able to reach them in an emergency. Grandparent’s don’t want to be irrelevant. Travellers need GPS directions. Workers fear being both needed and unreachable. And everyone secretly fears being bored. All of these concerns are not new, we just didn’t worry about them as much.
Human intelligence is too broad and varied to be reduced to words such as “dumb” or “stupid,” but there are worrying signs that all this digital convenience is costing us dearly. What is harder to argue is that, with every new tweak, we deepen our dependence on these dangerous digital devices and find it harder to work or remember or think or function without them. We are watching children’s capacity for deep, independent, thought erode in real time. And then we’re handing them another screen and calling it education.
