What’s the biggest change happening right now that no one is talking about?

Years ago when I worked front desk security at a car factory I had to introduce every person, contractors mostly, to read and fill out a safety form. One construction company comes in with about 25 contractors to work on some steel structures. I hand each the forms to fill out. One of the guys pulls me aside and quietly tells me that he can't read. I could tell he was ashamed. I read the form out loud to everyone, something I didn't have to do, but did it so he could know what it said. It was the first time in my life I had met anyone over the age of 18 that didn't have a mental handicap that was illiterate. That was 2015. Now I've been hearing it's worse, mostly from high school teachers I'm friends with. They'll have students that can work a computer no problem, and doom scroll on their phone 24/7 but when they need to sound out certain words it's like a foreign language to them.

It’s weird being born in the late-70s and growing up in an analog world and seeing what the world has become now. I have lots of what I would call “general knowledge” where even if I don’t have experience with a thing, I am usually able to figure something out even if I’ve never seen it before. People don’t prioritize general knowledge anymore. They want specific knowledge to answer specific questions. I’m not even sure what we do about a lack of curiosity.

Carl Sagan 1995 “I have a foreboding of an America in my children’s or grandchildren’s time—when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what’s true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness.” “And when the dumbing down of America is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30-second sound bites now down to 10 seconds or less, lowest-common-denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance.”

The war on education is so sad. My wife just left the teaching profession after last school year. It’s a shame, she was a great teacher and gave her students everything she had. Unfortunately the mountains of paperwork, lack of support from her superiors and ridiculous hours finally took its toll.

Too*

I taught high school and middle school English for over a decade (until 2016) and I witnessed this decline, along with what seemed like a real concerted effort to stifle critical thinking and media literacy skills in many states’ curriculum standards (I now work in curriculum design so I get see it from a bird’s eye view, yay 🫠). Yesterday I was waiting in line for an ice cream cone and the teenage kid in front of me didn’t appear able to read or understand the sizes and prices on the sign. Finally he asked, “how much is a medium scoop?” “$5.75,” the cashier replied. “I have $20,” the kid said, and just sort of blankly held up the $20 bill waiting for some sort of answer. I was like…somehow this otherwise well-put together kid can neither read or do basic math? It was alarming. I taught kids with learning disabilities for years and this wasn’t that.

When OP says "most americans" in may sound like hyperbole, but it IS REALLY bad! [Half of americans cant read a book meant for 8th graders.](https://www.wyliecomm.com/whats-the-latest-u-s-literacy-rate/) One third of americans are not able to find basic information on a webpage, like contact info. And its getting WORSE, not better. So when you hear people say that americans are dumb, not only is it accurate , its a huge f****** problem.

On top of that because reading comprehension has a strong correlation with emotional maturity, most Americans have the emotional maturity of a 6th graders. When you think about the country through that lens, everything makes so much more sense.

My first real job, sending emails, phone calls, etc, completely shook my concept of people's general literacy. I had assumed that once I got into the professional world, most people had grown up and were able to read and write beyond a third grade level. It's genuinely reframed how I look at the entire world.

Around 2015, I once saw a guy who was at least 30 years old get in an argument at a bagel shop because the sign outside said all size coffees were $2 on Tuesdays and they were trying to scam him by charging full price. It was a Wednesday.

The irony is *TOO much to handle.

I’m a lawyer and in my area the courts just had to redo our jury instructions because they found that our jurors didn’t read at a high enough level to understand them. The instructions jurors are given today are now at a 4th grade reading level. That is terrifying

Absolutly. I work with youth (under 25) and am a younger millennial myself. The number of HS graduates I work with who are functionally illiterate is astounding. They also often don't know basic things like their own address, how to write the date, how to read a clock, etc.

Too*

It hurts their oral listening skills too, I think. The act of reading forces one to interact with the text in a sequential way that watching video does not.

Tied in with this tons of people will complain about how they weren't taught about how to grow food or do their taxes in high school or whatever but the same people don't seem to be able to read at the level necessary to do those things. Like you shouldn't be annoyed that you learned about mitochondria, you should be angry literacy and critical thought weren't really prioritized at all in school.

Too

too* many people

Too*

I think part of the problem is that it doesn't really matter. You read books, have a large vocabulary, employ critical thinking skills? Ok, cool, that's an interesting quirk, nerd, but the entire rest of the world figured out long ago there was more profit in conditioning people into numb mediocrity and appealing to them. For example, television networks that initially provided at least semi educational and intellectual content slowly (well, not very slowly) gave way to reality programming. What incentive is there to learn new skills, get involved in intellectual pursuits? "Facts" are becoming more and more subjective, people are *proud* of their ignorance and wear it like a badge, passion is valued far more than logic and rationality. And which side of that growing divide is easier and more profitable to appeal to? Its not strictly left/right political, but its easier to fall into that trap and sum it all up in a tidy little box, but that's a tangent best suited for a separate discussion.

I grade student assignments at a state level university and the struggle is real af.

My friend is a trainer for a chain of coffee stands. She told me about training a new girl recently who didn’t know what half of 8 was. She also didn’t know what half of 4 was. Simple things and she struggled. Education funding is vital.

Every time a teacher comments on listnook its always "the kids that should be reading at a 5-7th grade level are struggling to comprehend 3rd grade reading levels."

[deleted]

One of the reasons why it's snuck up on us is because parents ask their kids to read something, the kid reads something, and the parent goes "*See* my kid can read!". The issue is they are essentially just parroting words and can't actually articulate the idea that the words are trying to give.

And yet people look at me sideways when I tell people the single issue voter I am is for Education. Once any politician from any party does anything to negatively impact public education, I’m out. It doesn’t depend on the party… but let’s just say there’s way more pro-stupid on one side. I hold really weird and individual values on other subjects. But while you guys think bathrooms are being invaded by trans people, I’m concerned that our kids are being babysat and let loose in a dumpster fire. And all of the science and innovation will follow. I’m going to be in a nursing home dealing with Brawndo treatments.

From what I'm hearing about the impact of ipads and AI on gen Z and Alpha we basically made two generations of illiterate dependents who are going to need conservatorship to get through life. I've seen teachers describing them as completely unable to retain information or follow instructions. Information retention is a skill, its a brain muscle. ChatGPT dependence has like completely atrophied it in some people. When you write shit down you build memory and digest the information. When you copy and paste chatGPT the only thing you train your brain to be good at is copy and pasting better.

Part of this is the general media environment, but also they aren't really going "to the moon". They aren't even orbiting it, let alone landing. It's like saying you're going to the movies when what you're actually doing is driving past the movie theater and looking out the window. Still incredibly awesome and important from a scientific perspective, but "lame" to most people so the media isn't going to spend time on it since it won't drive engagement.

I've seen far too many comments from people saying "WHY DO THEY NEVER SHOW THE ROCKET LEAVING THE ATMOSPHERE, HUH? ALL THE VIDEOS CUT OFF BEFORE THAT!!" Dumbass, if you're just watching videos \*from the ground\* of the launch, then yeah, people are basically just cut the video after the thing is solidly \*in the sky\* because the first part is, one, easier to see \*from the ground\*, and two, people lose interest of the replay after like 20 seconds, max. I've also seen people saying that the rocket tips more horizontal once it's up in the air, implying that it does so because it's turning around to land or something. Literally so stupid. And if these people just looked into the basics of how the Apollo rockets worked, they'd understand what a cool and amazing feat it is. But when you don't understand the basics of how anything outside your own sphere of life works, and someone on the internet tells you it's a hoax, I bet it makes you feel smart and special for once, and like you understand something that very few people do. And to be clear, this is a systemic issue. I generally don't like to dismiss things like that as a few wackos because I think that's how we ignore the root of the problem, allowing it to spread further. And shame, especially for those without the emotional intelligence skills to constructively and interpret and cope with that shame, only pushes people further into their fringe ideologies.

I didn't even know it was happening until my MIL called yesterday and told us to put on CNN.

And on the other side, how many big companies exist without owning much or employing many people. DoorDash/UberEats/etc have no restaurants and very few kitchens. They don't have vehicles. Alibaba, a while back at least, didn't own any warehouses full of stuff. They just made an aggregate platform. Vrbo and AirBnB help you rent other people's houses.

I will never understand how people move and support these subscribtions. Every time I see something I want to buy and they talk about subscribtion, I just don't buy. I avoid subscribtions at all cost. F*** that.

You'll own nothing and be happy. Famous quote from Blackrock.

i own all my shit. i use spotify tho. cant beat it

It’s not really a new problem. People have always struggled with rational thinking, and even clear arguments can go over their heads. Ego, emotions, and personal biases often get in the way.

I believe you completely, and I will not fact check this.

True, I notice this when working on game design - players used to spend hours figuring out puzzles, now if something takes more than 30 seconds they just alt-tab to YouTube or TikTok. Makes me wonder if we're training ourselves to be permanently distracted

Mine's not disappearing per say, but I noticed that I get annoyed easily nowadays. People take too long to explain something that can be said in 5 seconds, I don't need a 3 minute story. Shit dont work? Cool

Can we get a tl;dr for this comment?

Not reading that essay.

I'm trying to avoid short form content because I've noticed it's destroying my attention span. I'm 41 if this material is making a noticable difference on my mind I can't help but wonder wtf it's doing to developing minds.

Tl;dr pls

TLDR

This one I don't believe. People have been shitting on whatever the newest fad is for hundreds of years. The young are constantly "losing their attention span" People used to say books were bad for you, since it would keep you distracted. In fact they were called 'novels' because they were a new 'novel' idea. https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1100/format:webp/1*XwLF8pqtHSjOiV8EGNM0vQ.jpeg "NOVEL READING A CAUSE OF FEMALE DEPRAVITY" https://sourcebooks.web.fordham.edu/mod/1797novelreading-female.asp another link to the same news article. year 1797

And Listnook is one the biggest propagators.   It absolutely boggles my mind that there are so many depressed people sitting on Listnook all day. It’s like trying to cure lung cancer with cigarettes.  

I am deleting my Listnook account I need to get off this shit

But how would listnook survive without it. Heck. This entire post is a gold mind for doom scrolling.

You know...I feel your pain. I lost 60 lbs; Over 25% of my bodyweight is gone and it's like it never happened. Only my husband noticed. I have really weird body dysmorphia now. I bet people will eventually talk about that last part ha. 

Congrats! But maybe people not commenting is a good thing in the sense that people seem to be learning it’s usually better to just not comment on people’s bodies? For example, I won’t comment on someone’s weight loss unless they tell me they were trying to lose weight. I don’t want to be that person that congratulates someone on losing weight when the weight loss wasn’t intentional but a side effect of them going through a difficult time. And then they feel even worse. Or I don’t want someone to feel like I only see them for their body/weight. Though I know it’s good to have recognition of your progress when you work hard and it pays off.

Well, I noticed, but I didn't want to say anything, in case I came off rude. You are looking amazing.

This is an interesting one because to me, it can go both ways. I get annoyed when people say I look like I've lost weight (because I haven't, probably) but that gives me a brief picture of how they see me. Like I am the fat guy, that is the most important and noticeable thing about me and the one thing they should mention. And since no, I've actually put on a few pounds, its a lie to be "nice" but in a very shallow, throw away sort of manner. Context is very significant here and likely very different between situations. And their intentions could be varied, but sometimes the self confidence (or lack thereof) that accompanies self valuation based on percieved societal standards...yeah.

Congrats! That shit is tough!

Eh, this change is a bit of a double edged sword. Yes it's easier for amateur authors to find an audience, but it's also easier for people to churn out absolute slop. Kindle Unlimited for example is absolutely full of the literary equivalent of Nintendo eshop Shovelware, including actual "completely AI-written" garbage. And this stuff is actively push/promoted by Amazon because these books' authors are so prolific that the algorithm surfaces them more. It's creating a loop where a large amount of the "easy"/impulse downloads and purchases are going to this slop (because it's so common) which then incentivises further slop. I do think that *some* degree of oversight/control of commercial publishing platforms (which Amazon is) leads to a healthier literary landscape.

This also means it’s nearly impossible to get any readership unless you are already an influencer. I went to school for English, not marketing, and this current landscape where self-marketed books are the biggest successes makes it seem like everything was pointless. The whole reason I like writing is because I’m *not* as good at speaking aloud, but now it feels like you need to have some sort of pre-established following on your video content (tiktok, YouTube) if you want any hope at people reading your book.

I’m wondering if this comment feels very AI-generated on purpose.

I found out my company was owned by a private equity firm when they canned the executive team for refusing to lay off 60% of the staff.

Yeah, it often feels like major events end up overshadowing other serious issues that don’t get enough attention

The systemic erosion of democracy as well. Inside trading happening regularly, bribes, etc. The rich run most countries and now it's not even being hidden, it's in plain sight, and barely any notice in the news or pressure from journalism (because these companies are owned by the ultra rich too). It's a sad state.

Undersea mining would be very bad. A recent study found the undersea minerals that would actually make the mining profitable and worth doing naturally produce electrolysis on the ocean floor, creating oxygen for the environment down there. If those minerals are mined large-scale, then no more oxygen, no more life, and all the other cascade effects from that.

Do solar panels need lots of precious metals?

I can’t spend too long thinking about this because it’s seems so inevitably catastrophic. I work in a university and just can’t see why many young people will be able to justify higher education when a huge number of jobs are completely devalued because AI can do it better and faster, and their employment opportunities are decimated as a result. Not to mention the inherent value of studying something is completely eroded when your entire student body can and will get AI to summarise readings and write all their assessments for them. Chat GPT wasn’t a thing when I started my doctorate and the students struggled to think for themselves THEN. God knows what it’ll be like in a year or two.

My company requires a shift handover between the AM and PM shift which staff fill in to outline what's happened, if there are concerns, tasks yet to be completed, etc. This used to be written by staff, but now there's an AI that does it. In other departments there's an AI that transcribes your words automatically so there's no need for a minute taker to do it. I stalwartly refuse to use either because I don't need to, but as a man approaching 40 it's genuinely concerning to me how readily we're surrendering things to AI even before it's really been properly refined and understood. In both cases, the AI makes mistakes and errors meaning it still needs a degree of human oversight, but some people already blindly trust it. It's terrifying.

Why?

Social media is for tracking dissent and public sentiment. It's all astroturf.

Yes, but it's better than being apathetic, which is the alternative for many. It's like protesting. Recently, I've been getting more involved in protesting against my provincial government. We have issues that we name, but no clear demand. It's a bunch of local protests across the province, so most aren't even in our leader's face or in front of their offices. Some are just on busy street corners. Many would call that a pointless waste of energy. They say that protesting, without a clear demand and in the face of those you're protesting against, is useless. Now, there's a smidge of truth there, but I think it's missing the bigger picture. So, so many people are just apathetic. They're trying to make ends meet, describe themselves as "apolitical" though they usually lean left on social policies if you get down to the weeds with them. They're usually the most intersectionally privileged people, because they're generally the last to be affected by policy decisions. By getting involved with protesting, I've gotten connected to local socialist groups and added to a couple Signal chats for them. They're always keeping everyone up to date on local, provincial, and federal politics, some of which is insane and I would've never known about otherwise. Some people have started to recognize my face and name between the groups and protests. I've become a small part of a much bigger network, all of us educating each other, and crowdsourcing ideas and energy. But also, being able to connect with people and feel a part of something bigger has been \*huge\* for me. I still look at the world and feel pessimistic, but I definitely feel more hopeful and not as powerless as I did before. I'm also kind of a noob in terms of the polisci stuff, and many of the group members are local politicians or polisci majors, and everyone has been so helpful if I don't know something; totally no judgement. You might argue that me even being semi boots-on-the-ground and leaving my house is still leagues ahead of a hashtag, sure. But a hashtag still means that they're engaged in some way. That means that their feeds still include politics and important news, whereas some people's feed are literally just TikTok shop BS and puppies and that's it. Back in 2016, I remember knitting a p**** hat for the women's march. I didn't even get to wear it out, but I just made it because it made me feel like I was doing \*something\* when I felt like a completely helpless teenager. And yeah, it did essentially nothing. But the fact that I felt outraged and cared in any capacity is what got me here today—not apathetic, trying my best to contribute to a much larger fight. We need to empower people, not shame them. Shame (largely) makes people apathetic. But people also need to know that there are ways to be involved in political advocacy, even from the comfort of their own homes. Even just fact-checking political shit before sharing it to your story is a great way to ensure you're correctly sharing things to your followers. I won't say that sharing stuff to your social media is fruitless, either, because it's one of the main ways I stay informed (I just make sure that I fact-check and correct my friends if they share misinformation). Yeah, we're in a hell of a time, but keeping people engaged with politics, even on a low level, is good. When people are struggling, encourage them to do as much as they can, when they can! Educate yourself and your friends! Offer people rides to go vote! Sign up to help with your local elections! Protest! Fight the awkwardness and socialize with strangers at political events! :)

What railroads? I can tell you the freight railroads definitely aren’t…

This deserves more than a short form discussion on listnook, but climate change is one component in the mess. Multiple factors are all interconnected and impact one another - for example, one of the market pressure pushing beef prices through the roof is a recent parasite epidemic that hit Mexico hardest of all and decimated herds there. On one hand, this is not unheard of and historically has happened before, prior to getting to the current level of climate change impact, but nonetheless, every such occurrence should be examined through that lens, IE, did this make that more likely? Additionally, population growth impacting ground water resources, increasing demand combined with drought conditions and just for shits and giggles, lets build data centers in those affected rural areas... The most significant bottleneck in the beef industry supply chain is in processing and distribution where increasingly monopolistic behavior (with some good, old fashioned graft/corruption/criminality greasing the rails into market consolidation) allow for a greater degree of price fixing and profit extraction. In other words: its all shit and it ain't getting better without some serious regime change here at home. Context: I am a hobby farmer and part of the hobby is trying to keep up with as much as I can from a micro/macro perspective. I live on acreage in south Texas and there are currently two MASSIVE data centers under construction in my county, while we're in a drought and three of the last 4 summers have been extremely hot, historically. This is a stupid hobby but I had a calf born 6 days ago and that's the sort of magical shit that makes it appealing.

I'm all for the electric railroads transition. It's long been about time. Electric locos come with greater traction, torque and acceleration. We used to have a handful of significant electric railroads in the US too, even some class I's. The Milwaukee Road might be the most notable. Thanks for sharing this, had no idea this discussion was even occurring. I used to be a huge electrification advocate when I was in the urban planning sphere.

AI or billionaire media mogels who own the AIs?

[removed]

This scared me so much I just shat lego bricks

What's a PBM?

when the videos that aren’t AI start appearing…