The problem with internet and social medias, is that stupid people can have an equal (or even more) time to speak about their ideas than rational and non-stupid people. For example, a good quality newspaper news or scientific study takes time to be proven, checked, and find sources. So on the internet, many people can post shitty articles or opinions, thinking of the topic for just 5minutes, whereas a good article demonstrating a scientific process or an investigation article take several years. Tha’s also why we end up with these conspiracy theories. It is so easy to create them, and so long to prove why it is false. But most people are not thinking very far away and will accept a 5 minutes explanation of phenomenon to believe in it. They don’t understand physics for example, so they cannot understand the scientifically explained phenomenon at the base of the chem trails. They prefer to believe that they consist of chemical or biological agents and they are left in the sky by high-flying aircraft, sprayed for nefarious purposes undisclosed to the general public. I believe that at the time of Galileo, if social medias were a thing, the main speech would have remained the same, that the Earth is flat. Why that? Because at that time, Galileo “only” had to convince a bunch of authorities that the Earth is flat, and then the main authorities made it the main speech. Whereas these days, the truth is very hard to disclose because everyone can give his/her opinion. The problem now, like what happens for the covid, is that as people see that people give an opinion against something, they are just thinking “oh I am not the only one against it” (against what? They don’t even know, but they are against it!) and as a mass effect, seeing people of the same opinion, they think that their opinion can be right.

And it is not only about social medias. Our modern society brings stupidity and mediocrity upfront. There is an ecosystem of lazyness rising. For example food delivery. Anyone mainly in big cities can skip grocery shopping by clicking buttons on an app and getting food delivered at their door. Anyone attractive or not (especially men) can consume sex by watching online porn. People don’t even need to make an effort for these basic needs/behaviors which are food or sex, it comes to them in a few clicks.

When I was in middle school, I found most of my classmates very stupid, and now I am just afraid of living with those people around me, with the same power to vote, post Tweets, and act as citizen. I mean that these people couldn’t read a graph of a linear function, how can they understand what is good for them in the society, and what is at stake in such problems we are facing?

Are social medias making us stupid? I think this question is funny because it is in a sense more that stupidity is brought upfront by social media. But yes, social medias make us stupid. It is scientifically proven that it ramollishes our brains.