MODERN society is saturated with information, yet starved of understanding. Everywhere you look, people fall for AI-generated videos, fabricated stories and political narratives that collapse under the slightest scrutiny. The decline in critical thinking is no longer subtle: it is visible in public debate, online behaviour, and even the way people vote. What once would have been dismissed as obvious nonsense is now accepted as fact by large numbers of people. This frightening cultural shift raises a serious question: how did we become a society that sees more, but understands less?
The public are daily bombarded with images, soundbites, a plethora of conflicting news media, AI propaganda and AI-generated videos. Artificial Intelligence presents scenarios that are so convincing that many viewers cannot distinguish obvious nonsense from reality. This material is dangerous because it is very persuasive, especially to individuals who already have a problem separating truth from fiction.
Many are now so reliant on technology they have become unwilling to apply basic scepticism. Rather than attempting to verify what they see they are sucked in by these images and narratives, and many choose to believe what they see verbatim, rather than challenge or research what is in front of them.
Some of the videos now circulating on YouTube depict scenarios such as the late Princess Diana, who died in 1997, hugging one of her 21st century grandsons. Another depicts Princess Anne putting other members of the royal family in their place and there is one of the Prince and Princess of Wales performing a jazz dance with their children in front of a crowd. I have been astonished to see the comments under these videos from people who believe what they are seeing.
This second quarter of the 21st century is also seeing plunging literacy and foundational skills. When I was at school in the 1960s and 1970s, spelling, punctuation and coherent writing was essential. Today this seems to be optional. Many young adults struggle with basic written communication, as the education system now has an obsession with culturally correctional content, including the universal misnomer of ‘DEI’ (diversity, equity and inclusion), an ideology that seeks to create barriers rather than break them as it focuses on discriminating against Caucasian indigenous Westerners.
Also in that mix are attention spans shortened and shaped by social media. The result is a population less able to express itself clearly and understand complex information. When people cannot form a coherent sentence, how are they expected to form a coherent thought?
Social media has become the triumph of emotion over reason with its opportunities for instant response to online disputes in place of thoughtful consideration. There is the political noise from the extremes of left and right, herd behaviour, performative opinions and hostility towards nuance. In this climate, misinformation spreads faster than the truth and people become increasingly polarised and reactive. Outrage has now replaced reasoned discussion and is now hugely prevalent on such platforms as Facebook and X.
Folk now use AI and Google as a source of all information (and I hold my hand up for using both to find out facts and statistics, usually related to politics.) However, I do not always accept what the digital demagogues tell us. They are far from infallible, but many people fail to realise this.
This is when one’s common sense and reasoning has to kick in. The problem is, so many have now had their minds filled so full of information overload they can’t see the wood for the trees. Sometimes I long for the days when you could just sit in a reference library or thumb through archives to find the answer.
All of this, of course, is responsible for the state we now find ourselves in politically. People vote without reading manifestos, even though every political party has a website with them clearly laid out. Candidates have their own social media platforms. However, these often turn nasty with rival factions spitting venom at each other, in the comments section, like electronic cobras, with nothing of any value ultimately learned.
What it has now come down to is people choosing candidates and parties based on personality, soundbites, and slogans rather than ability and policy.
The decline in human intelligence can be challenged by strengthening media literacy, restoring rigorous educational standards, encouraging reading and long-form thinking, instead of identity politics and reliance on Google. The education system needs to begin a period of self-correction and encourage folk to verify information and promote scepticism as a civic virtue. A society that supposedly values truth must also value the skills required to recognise it, although truth is now frequently obscured by political expediency.
We need to rebuild the culture of thought and the ability to weigh up facts and rely less on the political noise that surrounds us, not only from tabloids but is now omnipresent. Only then can we assimilate what we are seeing and rely less on the ongoing Infowars and stop being seduced by soundbites and solecisms.
