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It originated as a consequence of a burgeoning free media environment due to the proliferation of smart phones and the internet. The younger generations, with t

It originated as a consequence of a burgeoning free media environment due to the proliferation of smart phones and the internet. The younger generations, with their higher level of fluid intelligence, are able to approach things with better critical thinking and navigating the complexities of the internet world. The older generations aren't able to adapt and are sitting ducks for being easily manipulated by technology they don't understand.

ThalesX 5y ago
I used to be of this opinion until I asked myself whether I'm really that fluidly intelligent and able to approach things with better critical thinking, and am not a sitting duck for being easily manipulated by technology. Turns out, I was wrong and I am human after all and there are ways to manipulate me, especially by using the technology I love so much.
- throwaway_4ever 5y ago
  Other comments here seem to be indicating this is a binary "young people unaffected, older people affected" dichotomy. No. It's about the generality. Bell curve clearly exists for many dimensions.
  - cutemonster 5y ago
    Agreed. And, look, you wrote: > The younger generations, with their higher level of fluid intelligence, are able to approach things with better critical thinking Personally I try to write "are more often able to", or "tend to ...", so it sounds more bell-curvish
djenendik 5y ago
This seems like wishful thinking. Young people are in no way manipulated by advertising and influencers et al. right?
- Daishiman 5y ago
  Young people have dealt with trolls and a have a better grasp at getting what internet misinformation is and isn't. It's not great, but it's much better.
galangalalgol 5y ago
The older generations in the US are demonstrating fluid intelligence by being manipulated to support actions and ideology they would never have condoned in the past and coming up with stunningly complicated rationalizations. And the manipulation is through newer avenues like social media. They keep moving further and further into alternative avenues like youtube and Facebook alternatives that maintain their preferred echo chambers. These people are now able to find millions that agree with them and it it is self reinforcing even without FB's algorithms so that they become increasingly extreme.
Swenrekcah 5y ago
Young people can absolutely be manipulated, it’s probably even easier than with older people due to lack of experience. However, the thing that works in younger peoples favour is they are less isolated. Generally people are very social when young and then as life and routine sets in they stop socialising as much and when they do it’s usually with the same people. Isolated people don’t have the personal experience to be aware that the ads on Facebook are just ads and not the actual conversation going on around them. And therefore we have this perception that old people are so dumb and easily fooled, while IMO it’s purely the social aspect that’s at work. (There is also some contribution from lack of technical literacy but honestly even some of my 30s IT coworkers lack that).
- mech422 5y ago
  >>There is also some contribution from lack of technical literacy but honestly even some of my 30s IT coworkers lack that My favorite explanation of this was an analogy to cars. Early drivers had to be mechanics, able not only to drive, but maintain and service their cars. Modern drivers just need to know how to drive, and often have no idea how a car works... I think that maps well to computers. Early geeks had to know how to build, upgrade, program, network, etc. Current users just have to know how to _use_ an application and often have little idea of the 'behind the scenes' stuff..
- syntheweave 5y ago
  I got to stay at home with my parents through the pandemic and watched them become increasingly old and misled in real time as they attached themselves to the US alt-conservative news, called the mainstream sources "fake", but still watched both, one in adoration and the other out of spite. This trend was evident before, but simply accelerated by the fact that they were not out in the world in any real sense as an actor engaging with specific consequences. They used to participate a little bit in comments threads on the local paper, posting cherry picked sources for their views with the assertion "I'm just providing information". Then the comments section closed down, so they stopped. Now they just spend two or three hours of each day rabidly agreeing with each other that the world is insane and someone or some conspiracy is to blame. Any suggestion that they should try to disengage a little is met with the justifications of addiction. But I have an aunt who is slightly older and rebuffs attempts to broach political discussion. And she is, so far as I can tell, stable and content with things, even after the passing of her husband. I recall visiting when I was young and the husband carefully managing the TV remote to mute commercials - there was a definite control over exposure and conscious decisions about faith that my own parents would never attempt and only enacted on us children haphazardly. With people of roughly my generation, I can see the long-term indoctrination creeping up as they settle into careers. It comes and goes more easily early in life, for sure. By eighteen you're molded roughly into whatever society said you should be, and the onset of that is precisely the thing that makes so many teens commit suicide, and so many others foot soldiers to some ideology. But afterwards things become a little more self-inflicted, built off subconscious voices trying to justify how you ended up where you are. Many people do make a break away into "standing for something" that can take them away from the political sphere and engage with life in a more concrete way like my aunt. The terrified, reactionary elderly, I think, never got there, and ended up in a place where they have no pursuits or rules of conduct that would ground them and make them reconsider their concerns about new information. Once you're attached to bad ideas and you have a media source to reinforce them, all your energy starts going to their defense and you have nothing left for yourself - you just hate everything all day and your personal decline only motivates going deeper and rejecting friends and family; additional socialization by itself doesn't do it, it leads to "drama at the dinner table" as the entire conversation is pulled towards their topics of choice; every word out of their mouth inevitably leads back to their attachments. It's really on society to cut off the supply and deescalate, but for now, the war continues, I suppose.
mech422 5y ago
I don't know about 'fluid intelligence', but due to 40 years+ of neglecting education, I wouldn't want to bet on 'better critical thinking'. Just looking at any social media site, will show you how many people (of all generations) will believe things without any confirmation or critical thinking applied. edit: that goes for myself as well. I'm lazy enough not to verify stuff unless I think its 'important'...

ThalesX 5y ago

I used to be of this opinion until I asked myself whether I'm really that fluidly intelligent and able to approach things with better critical thinking, and am not a sitting duck for being easily manipulated by technology. Turns out, I was wrong and I am human after all and there are ways to manipulate me, especially by using the technology I love so much.

throwaway_4ever 5y ago
Other comments here seem to be indicating this is a binary "young people unaffected, older people affected" dichotomy. No. It's about the generality. Bell curve clearly exists for many dimensions.
- cutemonster 5y ago
  Agreed. And, look, you wrote: > The younger generations, with their higher level of fluid intelligence, are able to approach things with better critical thinking Personally I try to write "are more often able to", or "tend to ...", so it sounds more bell-curvish

djenendik 5y ago

This seems like wishful thinking. Young people are in no way manipulated by advertising and influencers et al. right?

Daishiman 5y ago
Young people have dealt with trolls and a have a better grasp at getting what internet misinformation is and isn't. It's not great, but it's much better.

galangalalgol 5y ago

The older generations in the US are demonstrating fluid intelligence by being manipulated to support actions and ideology they would never have condoned in the past and coming up with stunningly complicated rationalizations. And the manipulation is through newer avenues like social media. They keep moving further and further into alternative avenues like youtube and Facebook alternatives that maintain their preferred echo chambers. These people are now able to find millions that agree with them and it it is self reinforcing even without FB's algorithms so that they become increasingly extreme.

Swenrekcah 5y ago

Young people can absolutely be manipulated, it’s probably even easier than with older people due to lack of experience. However, the thing that works in younger peoples favour is they are less isolated. Generally people are very social when young and then as life and routine sets in they stop socialising as much and when they do it’s usually with the same people. Isolated people don’t have the personal experience to be aware that the ads on Facebook are just ads and not the actual conversation going on around them. And therefore we have this perception that old people are so dumb and easily fooled, while IMO it’s purely the social aspect that’s at work. (There is also some contribution from lack of technical literacy but honestly even some of my 30s IT coworkers lack that).

mech422 5y ago
>>There is also some contribution from lack of technical literacy but honestly even some of my 30s IT coworkers lack that My favorite explanation of this was an analogy to cars. Early drivers had to be mechanics, able not only to drive, but maintain and service their cars. Modern drivers just need to know how to drive, and often have no idea how a car works... I think that maps well to computers. Early geeks had to know how to build, upgrade, program, network, etc. Current users just have to know how to _use_ an application and often have little idea of the 'behind the scenes' stuff..
syntheweave 5y ago
I got to stay at home with my parents through the pandemic and watched them become increasingly old and misled in real time as they attached themselves to the US alt-conservative news, called the mainstream sources "fake", but still watched both, one in adoration and the other out of spite. This trend was evident before, but simply accelerated by the fact that they were not out in the world in any real sense as an actor engaging with specific consequences. They used to participate a little bit in comments threads on the local paper, posting cherry picked sources for their views with the assertion "I'm just providing information". Then the comments section closed down, so they stopped. Now they just spend two or three hours of each day rabidly agreeing with each other that the world is insane and someone or some conspiracy is to blame. Any suggestion that they should try to disengage a little is met with the justifications of addiction. But I have an aunt who is slightly older and rebuffs attempts to broach political discussion. And she is, so far as I can tell, stable and content with things, even after the passing of her husband. I recall visiting when I was young and the husband carefully managing the TV remote to mute commercials - there was a definite control over exposure and conscious decisions about faith that my own parents would never attempt and only enacted on us children haphazardly. With people of roughly my generation, I can see the long-term indoctrination creeping up as they settle into careers. It comes and goes more easily early in life, for sure. By eighteen you're molded roughly into whatever society said you should be, and the onset of that is precisely the thing that makes so many teens commit suicide, and so many others foot soldiers to some ideology. But afterwards things become a little more self-inflicted, built off subconscious voices trying to justify how you ended up where you are. Many people do make a break away into "standing for something" that can take them away from the political sphere and engage with life in a more concrete way like my aunt. The terrified, reactionary elderly, I think, never got there, and ended up in a place where they have no pursuits or rules of conduct that would ground them and make them reconsider their concerns about new information. Once you're attached to bad ideas and you have a media source to reinforce them, all your energy starts going to their defense and you have nothing left for yourself - you just hate everything all day and your personal decline only motivates going deeper and rejecting friends and family; additional socialization by itself doesn't do it, it leads to "drama at the dinner table" as the entire conversation is pulled towards their topics of choice; every word out of their mouth inevitably leads back to their attachments. It's really on society to cut off the supply and deescalate, but for now, the war continues, I suppose.

mech422 5y ago

I don't know about 'fluid intelligence', but due to 40 years+ of neglecting education, I wouldn't want to bet on 'better critical thinking'. Just looking at any social media site, will show you how many people (of all generations) will believe things without any confirmation or critical thinking applied. edit: that goes for myself as well. I'm lazy enough not to verify stuff unless I think its 'important'...