Our falling IQ shows in the polls
Excessive sensory stimulation is making us less intelligent
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Recent polls suggest half the country may vote against their own self-interests in November. The self sabotage is head-turning: Christians who defend Trump’s debauchery; poor people who donate to a billionaire’s Ponzi schemes; pensioners who don’t grasp that tax cuts for the 1% threaten their own entitlements.
As the new Time Magazine interview made clear, Trump has done nothing for the common man and everything for his wealthy donors, yet somehow, that fact doesn’t seem to compute.
To misquote Jesus, the stupid will always be among us. But stupid seems to be spreading in the U.S., and data suggest that excessive sensory stimulation may be the reason.
Do our politics reflect a cognitive decline?
When Trump celebrated his 2016 win, his declaration, “I love the poorly educated” made headlines. Eight years on, it’s not that half the country supports violent coup attempts, it’s that they sincerely believe the 2020 election was stolen, despite all evidence to the contrary.
The U.S. seems to be slumbering toward Idiocracy, a funny-not-funny satire about Americans in the year 2500 who have lost the ability to think. In the movie, Americans elect as President a dimwitted pro-wrestler- President Camacho- because he is loud and manipulative and they don’t know any better. The Trump sequel writes itself.
Funny as that movie was, America’s declining cognition is serious. Americans’ logic, language, and reading comprehension levels have fallen measurably. Last year, researchers from Northwestern University and the University of Oregon reported that, while American IQs increased dramatically over the past century, cognitive abilities showed measurable decline between 2006 and 2018. Scores in three of four broad domains of intelligence fell during that period: logic, vocabulary, and visual/ mathematical problem-solving.
Excessive use of personal electronics, social media may be to blame
In 1850, unwashed kids aged 6 to 18 were crammed into a smelly one-room school house with no AC and no technology- and often no books- yet still emerged well-versed in Latin, French, humanities and trigonometry.
Today, with whiteboards, laptops, separate rooms for each grade, and teacher/student ratios historically unheard of, student comprehension levels are falling instead of rising. Last year, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, math and reading scores for 13 year-olds hit their lowest scores in decades, which isn’t explained by the Covid-19 gap of recent years.
The explanation may be found in a growing reliance on smart phones, social media and electronic devices that offer addictive and excessive visual and audio stimulation, dulling the brain’s ability to think critically and organically.
Observational studies in human learning have shown a direct link between a child’s exposure to fast-paced television in the first 3 years of life and his subsequent attentional deficits as he gets older. Excessive sensory stimulation (ESS) during childhood has been shown to increase cognitive and behavioral deficits overall. Even rising levels of ADHD among older children and college students are correlated with subjects’ early exposure to excessive electronic media.
Educators are taking cellphones out of the classroom
Educators are paying attention. This year, dozens of schools across the country have taken steps to remove cellphones from the classroom.
Although three-quarters of U.S. schools already disallow cellphone use in the classroom, it’s up to individual teachers to enforce, which results in high variability among schools and classrooms. Unruly and disruptive students who need instruction the most may be getting it the least as exhausted teachers pacify them with their cellphones to keep them quiet and in their seats.
Congress is catching on too. Bipartisan concern is growing over how cellphones and social media may be harming children. With about a third of U.S. teens reporting they are on social media “almost constantly,” the U.S. surgeon general recently issued a warning about social media and mental health.
More studies are needed on how excessive online stimulation affects cognition and mental health, regardless of age, and Congress may (shockingly) do something about it. In November, legislators introduced a bipartisan bill to study how cell phones affect mental health and cognitive development. The Focus on Learning Act, presently in committee, would require the U.S. Department of Education to complete a study on the effects of cellphone use in K-12 classrooms, both on students’ mental health and their academic performance.
Over-stimulation, overall, reduces our ability to think
It seems logical that over-stimulating the human brain with loud colors and noises would, over time, reduce our capacity for nuanced and critical thinking. Just as over-reliance on crutches can cause leg muscles to atrophy, over-exposure to electronics and addictive but thoughtless social media can atrophy the learning centers of the brain.
Smart phones aren’t the only culprit. Recent studies have also shown that high levels of noise, including exposure to high-decibel music at home or in the car, and loud, omnipresent television, also leads tocognitive impairment and oxidative stress in the brain.
It’s been reported that 100 million people are exposed to dangerous environmental noise due to traffic, personal listening devices and other sources. Noise pollution has emerged as a risk factor for depression, cognitive impairment and neurodegenerative disorders of the central nervous system leading to emotional stress, anxiety, cognitive and memory defects.
It seems the entire nation could use a long walk in the woods, or an extended visit to one of our 429 national parks — sans devices.
Education levels are affecting U.S. politics
America’s growing political divide may have more to do with education and cognition levels than policy differences. By wide margins, the mostly highly educated Congressional districts in the U.S. elect Democrats, while the least educated districts elect Republicans.
According to data compiled by Politico, Democrats control 77% of the most highly educated Congressional districts, while Republicans control 64% of the least educated districts. The rural poor love Trump even though Democrats deliver kitchen table results that benefit them most: jobs, infrastructure, broadband, healthcare, and industry regulations so trains don’t derail and parts don’t fly off aircraft at 16,000 feet.
Maximilien Robespierre, one of the most influential figures of the French Revolution, was known for his attacks on the monarchy and his advocacy of democratic reforms.
As he astutely observed, “The secret of freedom lies in educating people, whereas the secret of tyranny is in keeping them ignorant.”
Even though Trump’s former advisors widely regard him as an undisciplined moron, he has a preternatural skill: the manipulation of ignorance.
Call it a conman’s intuition.
Education doesn’t stop at your school’s door. I’m almost 70, graduated from high school with honors in 1972 and started college in ‘78. Life intervened so I wasn’t able to graduate. But over the past 44 years, I’ve never stopped learning.
So many people have similar histories- high school, maybe junior college or like me got married way to young. Got an ordinary job and then slogged through daily life. Work, home, TV, bed and repeat until you die.
I would say the vast majority of Trump’s cult members can’t remember the last time they read a newspaper or opened a book. Their news intake consists of at least one Social Media platform, Fox News (or another TV source for more misinformation) and a right-wing podcast or talk show. They probably really hate that antagonist Rush Limbaugh died. This highly slanted media has left them unable to recognize fact from fiction and all ability to think logically is gone. That’s why online and phone scams are so profitable and hate groups grow like weeds.
Combine a head full of propaganda and conspiracy theories that make people so afraid that they have to own a closet full of guns, refuse life saving vaccines and attend an Evangelical church heavy on right-wing politics with a fatalistic view of the world and their place in it.
Now they are already primed for a evil con man more than willing to tell you anything you want, sell you crappy gold tennis shoes (oh well, we can skip paying the utility bill this month) and convince you he is a savior sent from god.
It’s the perfect combination to start a fascist regime. There are only two solutions. Both are pretty unlikely. 1. Find a charismatic leader and “steal” Trump’s followers or 2. Find a way to educate them. Education is the best solution as it lasts til death. I told you these solutions were unlikely.
Since the Democrats couldn’t find a younger, more dynamic leader for this election cycle, we must be looking ahead, working with more than one possible candidate and start leadership training. Yes, with the right basic characteristics one can be trained for the presidency.
Education starts at preschool and never ends. We must fine-tune our public school system to excite kids on learning, broaden the available subjects and teach critical thinking. “No Child Left Behind” has been a disaster. For one, Civics is gone and History has been so watered down that high school graduates only know a few highlights of white history. History is so much more that Wars and dates. History should inform us of how people lived, flourished, behaved badly, started violent uprisings, protested, improved the lives of others, overcome obstacles, created great art, music, books, made scientific discoveries, learned to live in a changing world and how we got here.
They say you cannot teach an old dog, new tricks, but why not? If we could unlock adult minds to the pleasures and advantages of being a lifetime learner, we would be able to tell our story, belief systems and develop ways to work together to build a better world. Yes, it is to make America great again but not the MAGA version of abandoning the rule of law and throwing out democracy. You don’t need to steal people rights, imprison anyone who disagrees with you, act with hate, be afraid of people who don’t look like you, be intolerant of others or condemn people who march to the beat of a different drummer. We already have the foundation in our government, judicial system, educational system, patriotism and people who want to make our country better. We have just dug the Grand Canyon between us. Good democracy is were we work together. MAGA must stop being victims, surrender to love not hate and learn that everyone has the right to their own religious beliefs or none. But NO ONE has the right to dictate the beliefs and rights of others. You do your thing, i’ll do mine. Also, you cannot catch being gay, nor will the Black rub off. You give us room to live and we’ll do the same for you.
Going down the road to fascism isn’t the answer. Just look at history and the many countries with current authoritarian leadership. No American would even want to vacation there, much less live in a country like that. Don’t turn our country into the awful things Trump says about others.
This is a killer piece, Sabrina! I don't even know where to begin with commentary on this contextual marvel - so I won't.
Thank you as always for your successful efforts decrypting the content of our seemingly persistent pandemonium.