How the Internet and AI Are Making Everyone Weak and Stupid: A Guide to Toughening Up

Let's start with a statistic that should land like a punch to the gut: 54% of American adults read below a sixth-grade level. Think about that for a moment. Over half of the country struggles with literacy at a level we expect from 11-year-olds. In an era where knowledge is more accessible than ever before, that's not just alarming—it’s downright tragic.

We live in a world where information is at our fingertips. Supercomputers sit in our pockets, connecting us to the entirety of human knowledge with a few taps on a screen. Artificial intelligence can now write poetry, compose symphonies, generate compelling business plans, and even diagnose complex medical conditions. By any metric, we should be living in a golden age of intellectual and creative achievement. Yet somehow, it feels like the opposite is happening. Instead of thriving, we’re slipping. Instead of growing smarter, more capable, and more resilient, we’re becoming weaker, lazier, and alarmingly dependent on technology. Instead of empowering us, these tools seem to be robbing us of our ability to think critically, solve problems, and handle life's challenges with grit and clarity.

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