Daily Diary (DD) - Day 155 of 2024

1122hrs:

Managed to sleep just before 2330hrs last night and was able to easily get up at 0500hrs. A storm of pending work is staring me in my face and I better get used to it.

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Here are some excerpts of an article that touched a raw nerve in me:

The Death of Critical Thinking Will Kill Us Long Before AI

Joan Westenberg

Sep 22, 2023

We have witnessed a multi-generational decline in reading comprehension. We read less, retain less of what we read, and struggle to engage in critical analysis. And if this trend continues, we risk undermining the very foundations of our society.

In the bite-sized content and viral media age, too many of us have lost — or are losing — the focus and patience for lengthy, complex texts. We skim and scan instead of closely reading. Our attention spans have shrunk to mere seconds. While technology has enabled the wide dissemination of information, it has also fragmented our thinking. We are overwhelmed by noise and sensationalism.

Clickbait headlines and social media posts appeal to our emotions rather than intellect, making us susceptible to misinformation. We share articles without reading them, simply reacting to provocative titles and abstracts. The context, nuance, and accuracy no longer matter. Objective truth has become secondary to subjective feelings and base impulses.

Without reading comprehension, we cannot thoughtfully process information and make reasoned decisions. We lose the ability to thoroughly analyse issues, think critically, understand different perspectives, spot logical fallacies, and weigh evidence. Our opinions get shaped by alarmist rhetoric and confirmation bias rather than facts. We consume information, but we do not truly digest it. This erodes the very foundations of a healthy democracy — an educated populace.

A society that cannot patiently read long-form texts struggles to make sense of the world in ways that enable wise judgment, empathy across differences, effective policies, technological progress, economic justice, scientific reason, and fact-based truth to prevail over misguided beliefs. Reviving reading comprehension may be among the most urgent priorities for the future of civilisation.

Reference

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