this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2023
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It's an old trope that everyone was somehow so smart and wise right up until my generation, then everyone suddenly got stupid and mean.
Socrates complained that the youth in his day were spoiled by having books to rely on so they didn't have to memorize things anymore.
Every generation has the same attitude, and humanity somehow keeps on keeping on. Sure we are finding new and different ways to be stupid, but we're also finding new and different ways to be amazing.
The movie portrays people as mostly being interested in shallow things, such as nudity, sex, entertainment, celebrities.
I think humans are more interested than ever in those things now that we have mobile phones with Facebook and Instagram and tiktok and so on.
Also almost everyone is too tired after work to do something productive with their lives (by system design).
If the TV was bad, the mobile phone is worse. People can't even sit alone for 5 mins anymore.
These apps also make people very adhd and they can't focus on anything without needing stimulation. It's common to no longer be able to watch a movie without wanting to bring up the phone. Or to bring it up in the middle of a conversation.
One could argue it doesn't make people dumber though.... And I guess not. Not dumber, just more unable to be in the moment and feel peaceful.
I don't know which generation you're from, but I never got the idea that it was blaming any particular generation. At the time the movie came out it was referring to a generation that didn't exist yet. They were more commenting on the direction we seemed to be going: the priorities of capitalism, our devaluing of education, and our celebration of ignorance. These were all issues that were systemic starting well before I was born. Which is ironic considering Carl Sagan said the same thing a decade prior, pointing to Beavis and Butthead as an example (Mike Judge made both Idiocracy and Beavis and Butthead).