Critical thinking and reading is a luxury...?
The other night, on a drunk walk home, my boyfriend and I were talking about how we both realized we don’t ever feel bored anymore. We mindlessly scroll because our algorithms know us a little too well, making it addicting to doomscroll for hours. Moving? Don’t worry, the TikTok shop got you covered with all of the new apartment essentials. Feeling lost? Fear not, Meta will populate your Instagram reels with thinkpieces from 20-somethings also feeling the same way. Thinking about adopting another kitten? Somehow, Amazon will find out and suggest everything you may need to welcome your new kitty. It is scary how personalized these apps have become, because at what point does it become invasive?
I’ve realized how important it is to allow yourself to become bored. It gives your brain a moment to think, to sit, to wander, to explore, to learn. My most creative hobbies came about because I was bored and/or it piqued my interest. The last time I remember feeling truly bored was during the COVID-19 pandemic. When the world was at a standstill, I gained so many hobbies: sewing and upcycling, jewelry making, cooking - just to name a few. Although it was a scary period collectively, it was a rare phase of life where I had more time than usual. This blank space allowed me to connect disparate ideas, process emotions, and creatively explore my interests.
These hyper-personalized algorithms give us instant gratification because it answers every question or contributes to every idea we have in seconds. I notice a substantial difference in my memory and attention span because of this, and sometimes I do feel myself getting “dumber”. Phone addiction and doomscrolling doesn’t just take away time for us to think, it also diminishes our critical thinking skills and suppresses our natural imagination. The accessibility of AI chatbots is also a big factor in this - people’s dependency on AI to do simple tasks like drafting emails or writing grocery lists is diminishing the need to think for ourselves.
The average person’s dependency on AI for simple, everyday tasks is especially alarming when we see AI companies like Anthropic turn to destructively scanning old and rare books to train their AI bots. To quickly summarize, Anthropic was caught executing this operation, secretly called Project Panamá in early 2024. The AI tech giant initially had a choice to legally secure copyright permission to use e-books to train their AI bot, but instead opted to pirate e-books. This resulted in a $1.5 billion out of court settlement from authors (The Guardian). After the lawsuit, Anthropic turned to “destructive scanning”, obtaining physical books to destroy rather than working with human authors. It seems that the goal here is to eliminate the need for people to physically read the original books and instead, pull from an automated summary
Why are these AI companies going through such great lengths to destroy physical media and foundational human knowledge to train their models? What is the end goal to pouring so much money into all of this? There has been a sharp increase in book bans across U.S. schools and libraries driven by new state level mandates, which makes me wonder why stories discussing themes of race, gender, and sexuality need to be banned. When there is an American literacy crisis amongst children and adults - - specifically that 21% of adult Americans are illiterate* (Data Point Index) - it puts everything into perspective.
*To clarify, this statistic specifically refers to comprehension skills, which is arguably more important than reading itself.
I believe there is a definite connection between phone addiction, society’s growing dependency on AI, the destruction and censorship of certain books, and a literacy crisis amongst the masses. While it’s undoubtedly fascinating to witness how pure human prowess and determination have led us to unimaginable technological advancements thus far, it is still terrifying at the same time to watch the consequences unravel. It feels completely backward to see our society regress cognitively while so many of these developments can (and should) become accessible resources and tools to better us as individuals.. In recent years, short form content has become more popular than long form content, and that speaks to our attention span collectively. Our lives have become extremely centered around constant consumption of any and all kinds of media , leading to so many of us feeling jaded and desensitized before we may even realize it.
“By living through this age of extreme convenience and aggressive automation, I believe it makes it harder and harder to tap into the things that make us human. I’d argue that we need to experience more things that remind us of our humanity now more than ever. A sense of true self accomplishment, confidence, resilience, and pride are important personal emotional milestones that bring us closer to understanding who we truly are. To “struggle” does not necessarily equate to suffering. Putting in the effort to research and use critical thinking skills are foundational to being a self sufficient adult! I wish more people remembered that doing hard work where it is necessary is not automatically a waste of time - there are so many things we learn about ourselves in the process, and I think that is the only thing that really matters in the end.” - Maria Manaog, Editor in Chief
With the context of the times we are living in, to read is a radical act. If it weren’t, there wouldn’t be such a big push on the book ban or destroying them in general. The importance of reading was especially emphasized to us in school as children, but sometimes as adults we forget this. Reading makes us smarter by allowing us to visualize and use context clues. It stimulates our brains in a way that doomscrolling never could. The beauty of reading is that it does not matter what you read, you can read whatever you want as long as you actively do it. Whether it is fiction or memoirs or short stories, just remember to read. Visit the library and peruse to see what books excite you. If not books, reading articles and thinkpieces online (like the Rambutan Roundup wink wink) is also a great option! :)
What I am currently reading right now: Just Kids by Patti Smith, what about you?
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