Are we living in a golden age of stupidity?

McBain, Sophie. “Are We Living in a Golden Age of Stupidity?” The Guardian, 18 Oct. 2025. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/oct/18/are-we-living-in-a-golden-age-of-stupidity-technology

Sophie McBain argues that modern technology, especially social media and generative AI, may be weakening our ability to think deeply and independently. She cites a study by MIT researcher Nataliya Kosmyna that used brain scans to show that people who used ChatGPT to write essays exhibited lower brain activity in regions tied to focus, creativity, and memory. McBain also discusses how our constant switching between digital tasks leads to shallow thinking and less mental effort because our devices are designed to keep us distracted and “frictionless”. She warns that offloading mental work like memory and planning to our devices could make us more dependent and cognitively weaker, even though AI and technology promise to make our lives easier.

This article is powerful because it questions a common assumption that technological progress always makes us smarter. It challenges readers to think critically about how we use tools like AI and whether relying on them harms our thinking skills. McBain’s argument is timely and urgent: as we embrace these machines and devices, are we actually outsourcing our intelligence?