#dumbingusdown — Public Fediverse posts

Software #Developers Say #AI Is Rotting Their Brains

by Emanuel Maiberg, May 13, 2026

Excerpt: "The developers I talked to found AI useful for some tasks. Several developers said that it was good for experimentation, allowing them to quickly prototype an idea or to implement something in a domain they’re unfamiliar with. One developer said it was a good information interface. Specifically, he said, the AI helped him find where on the server a certain request is handled, summarize logs, or find documentation related to code changes.

"The problem all the developers I talked to agreed on is that the more they relied on AI to code, the more the skills they’ve honed for years deteriorated. This is by now a well studied phenomenon sometimes referred to as '#CognitiveDebt' or '#CognitiveAtrophy.' The idea is that people who use AI to automate certain parts of their job lose the ability to do those tasks well, therefore #DeSkilling themselves.

" 'I had some issues where I forgot how to implement a Laravel API and it scared the shit out of me. I went to university for this, I've been a software engineer for many years now and it feels like I am back before I ever wrote a single line of code,' the software developer at a small web design firm told me.

" 'It's making me dumber for sure,' the fintech software developer told me. “It's like when we got #cellphones and stopped remembering phone numbers, but it's grown to me mentally outsourcing ‘thinking’ in general. I feel my critical thinking and ability to sit and reason about a problem or a design has degraded because the all-knowing-dalai-llama is just a question away from giving me his take. And supposedly I tell myself ill just use it for inspiration but it ends up being my only thought. It gives you the illusion of productivity and expertise but at the end of the day you are more divorced from the output you submit than before.'

" 'When I was using it for code generation, I found myself having a lot of trouble building and maintaining a #MentalModel of the code I was working with,' the software engineer at the FAANG told me. 'Another aspect is that I joined late last year and [the company’s] codebase is massive. As a new hire, part of my job is to learn how to navigate the codebase and use the established conventions, but I think the AI push really hampered my ability to do that. '"

Read more:
https://www.404media.co/software-developers-say-ai-is-rotting-their-brains/

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/2vjJm

#AISucks #DumbingUsDown #BrainRot #AIBrainRot #MentalMaps #CriticalThinkingSkills #UseYourBrain #UseItOrLoseIt

Software #Developers Say #AI Is Rotting Their Brains

by Emanuel Maiberg, May 13, 2026

Excerpt: "The developers I talked to found AI useful for some tasks. Several developers said that it was good for experimentation, allowing them to quickly prototype an idea or to implement something in a domain they’re unfamiliar with. One developer said it was a good information interface. Specifically, he said, the AI helped him find where on the server a certain request is handled, summarize logs, or find documentation related to code changes.

"The problem all the developers I talked to agreed on is that the more they relied on AI to code, the more the skills they’ve honed for years deteriorated. This is by now a well studied phenomenon sometimes referred to as '#CognitiveDebt' or '#CognitiveAtrophy.' The idea is that people who use AI to automate certain parts of their job lose the ability to do those tasks well, therefore #DeSkilling themselves.

" 'I had some issues where I forgot how to implement a Laravel API and it scared the shit out of me. I went to university for this, I've been a software engineer for many years now and it feels like I am back before I ever wrote a single line of code,' the software developer at a small web design firm told me.

" 'It's making me dumber for sure,' the fintech software developer told me. “It's like when we got #cellphones and stopped remembering phone numbers, but it's grown to me mentally outsourcing ‘thinking’ in general. I feel my critical thinking and ability to sit and reason about a problem or a design has degraded because the all-knowing-dalai-llama is just a question away from giving me his take. And supposedly I tell myself ill just use it for inspiration but it ends up being my only thought. It gives you the illusion of productivity and expertise but at the end of the day you are more divorced from the output you submit than before.'

" 'When I was using it for code generation, I found myself having a lot of trouble building and maintaining a #MentalModel of the code I was working with,' the software engineer at the FAANG told me. 'Another aspect is that I joined late last year and [the company’s] codebase is massive. As a new hire, part of my job is to learn how to navigate the codebase and use the established conventions, but I think the AI push really hampered my ability to do that. '"

Read more:
https://www.404media.co/software-developers-say-ai-is-rotting-their-brains/

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/2vjJm

#AISucks #DumbingUsDown #BrainRot #AIBrainRot #MentalMaps #CriticalThinkingSkills #UseYourBrain #UseItOrLoseIt

Software #Developers Say #AI Is Rotting Their Brains

by Emanuel Maiberg, May 13, 2026

Excerpt: "The developers I talked to found AI useful for some tasks. Several developers said that it was good for experimentation, allowing them to quickly prototype an idea or to implement something in a domain they’re unfamiliar with. One developer said it was a good information interface. Specifically, he said, the AI helped him find where on the server a certain request is handled, summarize logs, or find documentation related to code changes.

"The problem all the developers I talked to agreed on is that the more they relied on AI to code, the more the skills they’ve honed for years deteriorated. This is by now a well studied phenomenon sometimes referred to as '#CognitiveDebt' or '#CognitiveAtrophy.' The idea is that people who use AI to automate certain parts of their job lose the ability to do those tasks well, therefore #DeSkilling themselves.

" 'I had some issues where I forgot how to implement a Laravel API and it scared the shit out of me. I went to university for this, I've been a software engineer for many years now and it feels like I am back before I ever wrote a single line of code,' the software developer at a small web design firm told me.

" 'It's making me dumber for sure,' the fintech software developer told me. “It's like when we got #cellphones and stopped remembering phone numbers, but it's grown to me mentally outsourcing ‘thinking’ in general. I feel my critical thinking and ability to sit and reason about a problem or a design has degraded because the all-knowing-dalai-llama is just a question away from giving me his take. And supposedly I tell myself ill just use it for inspiration but it ends up being my only thought. It gives you the illusion of productivity and expertise but at the end of the day you are more divorced from the output you submit than before.'

" 'When I was using it for code generation, I found myself having a lot of trouble building and maintaining a #MentalModel of the code I was working with,' the software engineer at the FAANG told me. 'Another aspect is that I joined late last year and [the company’s] codebase is massive. As a new hire, part of my job is to learn how to navigate the codebase and use the established conventions, but I think the AI push really hampered my ability to do that. '"

Read more:
https://www.404media.co/software-developers-say-ai-is-rotting-their-brains/

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/2vjJm

#AISucks #DumbingUsDown #BrainRot #AIBrainRot #MentalMaps #CriticalThinkingSkills #UseYourBrain #UseItOrLoseIt

Software #Developers Say #AI Is Rotting Their Brains

by Emanuel Maiberg, May 13, 2026

Excerpt: "The developers I talked to found AI useful for some tasks. Several developers said that it was good for experimentation, allowing them to quickly prototype an idea or to implement something in a domain they’re unfamiliar with. One developer said it was a good information interface. Specifically, he said, the AI helped him find where on the server a certain request is handled, summarize logs, or find documentation related to code changes.

"The problem all the developers I talked to agreed on is that the more they relied on AI to code, the more the skills they’ve honed for years deteriorated. This is by now a well studied phenomenon sometimes referred to as '#CognitiveDebt' or '#CognitiveAtrophy.' The idea is that people who use AI to automate certain parts of their job lose the ability to do those tasks well, therefore #DeSkilling themselves.

" 'I had some issues where I forgot how to implement a Laravel API and it scared the shit out of me. I went to university for this, I've been a software engineer for many years now and it feels like I am back before I ever wrote a single line of code,' the software developer at a small web design firm told me.

" 'It's making me dumber for sure,' the fintech software developer told me. “It's like when we got #cellphones and stopped remembering phone numbers, but it's grown to me mentally outsourcing ‘thinking’ in general. I feel my critical thinking and ability to sit and reason about a problem or a design has degraded because the all-knowing-dalai-llama is just a question away from giving me his take. And supposedly I tell myself ill just use it for inspiration but it ends up being my only thought. It gives you the illusion of productivity and expertise but at the end of the day you are more divorced from the output you submit than before.'

" 'When I was using it for code generation, I found myself having a lot of trouble building and maintaining a #MentalModel of the code I was working with,' the software engineer at the FAANG told me. 'Another aspect is that I joined late last year and [the company’s] codebase is massive. As a new hire, part of my job is to learn how to navigate the codebase and use the established conventions, but I think the AI push really hampered my ability to do that. '"

Read more:
https://www.404media.co/software-developers-say-ai-is-rotting-their-brains/

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/2vjJm

#AISucks #DumbingUsDown #BrainRot #AIBrainRot #MentalMaps #CriticalThinkingSkills #UseYourBrain #UseItOrLoseIt

Software #Developers Say #AI Is Rotting Their Brains

by Emanuel Maiberg, May 13, 2026

Excerpt: "The developers I talked to found AI useful for some tasks. Several developers said that it was good for experimentation, allowing them to quickly prototype an idea or to implement something in a domain they’re unfamiliar with. One developer said it was a good information interface. Specifically, he said, the AI helped him find where on the server a certain request is handled, summarize logs, or find documentation related to code changes.

"The problem all the developers I talked to agreed on is that the more they relied on AI to code, the more the skills they’ve honed for years deteriorated. This is by now a well studied phenomenon sometimes referred to as '#CognitiveDebt' or '#CognitiveAtrophy.' The idea is that people who use AI to automate certain parts of their job lose the ability to do those tasks well, therefore #DeSkilling themselves.

" 'I had some issues where I forgot how to implement a Laravel API and it scared the shit out of me. I went to university for this, I've been a software engineer for many years now and it feels like I am back before I ever wrote a single line of code,' the software developer at a small web design firm told me.

" 'It's making me dumber for sure,' the fintech software developer told me. “It's like when we got #cellphones and stopped remembering phone numbers, but it's grown to me mentally outsourcing ‘thinking’ in general. I feel my critical thinking and ability to sit and reason about a problem or a design has degraded because the all-knowing-dalai-llama is just a question away from giving me his take. And supposedly I tell myself ill just use it for inspiration but it ends up being my only thought. It gives you the illusion of productivity and expertise but at the end of the day you are more divorced from the output you submit than before.'

" 'When I was using it for code generation, I found myself having a lot of trouble building and maintaining a #MentalModel of the code I was working with,' the software engineer at the FAANG told me. 'Another aspect is that I joined late last year and [the company’s] codebase is massive. As a new hire, part of my job is to learn how to navigate the codebase and use the established conventions, but I think the AI push really hampered my ability to do that. '"

Read more:
https://www.404media.co/software-developers-say-ai-is-rotting-their-brains/

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/2vjJm

#AISucks #DumbingUsDown #BrainRot #AIBrainRot #MentalMaps #CriticalThinkingSkills #UseYourBrain #UseItOrLoseIt

So, maybe I'm biased, but I personally think that degrees in #LiberalArts and #Humanities are very important in having well-rounded citizens -- who are exposed to art, history, geography, philosophy, etc. And I think that sort of education should be free and start at the high school level (or even before).

Hampshire College Will Close Amid Student Enrollment Declines

Other small private colleges like Hampshire have closed in recent years as financial pressures and competition for students increase.

by Mark Arsenault, April 14, 2026

Hampshire president, Jennifer Chrisler: “Some of it is a persistent and ill informed, I think, belief at the federal level that the only value of an education is what you earn four years after your graduation”.

Read more:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/14/us/hampshire-college-closing-amherst-massachusetts-enrollment.html

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/snPv7

#Authoritarianism #DumbingUsDown #CharacteristicsOfFascism #HigherEducation #Education #LearningForLearningsSake

So, maybe I'm biased, but I personally think that degrees in #LiberalArts and #Humanities are very important in having well-rounded citizens -- who are exposed to art, history, geography, philosophy, etc. And I think that sort of education should be free and start at the high school level (or even before).

Hampshire College Will Close Amid Student Enrollment Declines

Other small private colleges like Hampshire have closed in recent years as financial pressures and competition for students increase.

by Mark Arsenault, April 14, 2026

Hampshire president, Jennifer Chrisler: “Some of it is a persistent and ill informed, I think, belief at the federal level that the only value of an education is what you earn four years after your graduation”.

Read more:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/14/us/hampshire-college-closing-amherst-massachusetts-enrollment.html

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/snPv7

#Authoritarianism #DumbingUsDown #CharacteristicsOfFascism #HigherEducation #Education #LearningForLearningsSake

So, maybe I'm biased, but I personally think that degrees in #LiberalArts and #Humanities are very important in having well-rounded citizens -- who are exposed to art, history, geography, philosophy, etc. And I think that sort of education should be free and start at the high school level (or even before).

Hampshire College Will Close Amid Student Enrollment Declines

Other small private colleges like Hampshire have closed in recent years as financial pressures and competition for students increase.

by Mark Arsenault, April 14, 2026

Hampshire president, Jennifer Chrisler: “Some of it is a persistent and ill informed, I think, belief at the federal level that the only value of an education is what you earn four years after your graduation”.

Read more:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/14/us/hampshire-college-closing-amherst-massachusetts-enrollment.html

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/snPv7

#Authoritarianism #DumbingUsDown #CharacteristicsOfFascism #HigherEducation #Education #LearningForLearningsSake

So, maybe I'm biased, but I personally think that degrees in #LiberalArts and #Humanities are very important in having well-rounded citizens -- who are exposed to art, history, geography, philosophy, etc. And I think that sort of education should be free and start at the high school level (or even before).

Hampshire College Will Close Amid Student Enrollment Declines

Other small private colleges like Hampshire have closed in recent years as financial pressures and competition for students increase.

by Mark Arsenault, April 14, 2026

Hampshire president, Jennifer Chrisler: “Some of it is a persistent and ill informed, I think, belief at the federal level that the only value of an education is what you earn four years after your graduation”.

Read more:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/14/us/hampshire-college-closing-amherst-massachusetts-enrollment.html

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/snPv7

#Authoritarianism #DumbingUsDown #CharacteristicsOfFascism #HigherEducation #Education #LearningForLearningsSake

So, maybe I'm biased, but I personally think that degrees in #LiberalArts and #Humanities are very important in having well-rounded citizens -- who are exposed to art, history, geography, philosophy, etc. And I think that sort of education should be free and start at the high school level (or even before).

Hampshire College Will Close Amid Student Enrollment Declines

Other small private colleges like Hampshire have closed in recent years as financial pressures and competition for students increase.

by Mark Arsenault, April 14, 2026

Hampshire president, Jennifer Chrisler: “Some of it is a persistent and ill informed, I think, belief at the federal level that the only value of an education is what you earn four years after your graduation”.

Read more:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/14/us/hampshire-college-closing-amherst-massachusetts-enrollment.html

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/snPv7

#Authoritarianism #DumbingUsDown #CharacteristicsOfFascism #HigherEducation #Education #LearningForLearningsSake

#RayBradbury Reveals the True Meaning of #Fahrenheit451: It’s Not About #Censorship, But People “Being Turned Into Morons by #TV”

in Books | August 10th, 2017 9 Comments

' 'Fahrenheit 451 is not, he says firmly, a story about government censorship,' wrote the Los Angeles Weekly’s Amy E. Boyle Johnson in 2007. 'Nor was it a response to Senator #Joseph McCarthy, whose investigations had already instilled fear and stifled the creativity of thousands.' Rather, he meant his 1953 novel as 'a story about how television destroys interest in reading literature.' "

https://www.openculture.com/2017/08/ray-bradbury-reveals-the-true-meaning-of-fahrenheit-451.html

#Idiocracy #DumbingUsDown #PutDownThePhones #AISucks #ReadABook

“#CognitiveSurrender” leads #AI users to abandon #logical thinking, research finds

Experiments show large majorities uncritically accepting “faulty” AI answers.

Kyle Orland – Apr 3, 2026

https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/04/research-finds-ai-users-scarily-willing-to-surrender-their-cognition-to-llms/

#Vulcanize🖖🏼 #AISucks #UseLogic #UseItOrLoseIt #DumbingUsDown #CriticalThinkingSkills

More of this, please...!

A college instructor turns to typewriters to curb AI-written work and teach life lessons

By JOCELYN GECKER, March 31, 2026

"The scene is right out of the 1950s with students pecking away at manual typewriters, the machines dinging at the end of each line.

"Once each semester, Grit Matthias Phelps, a German language instructor at Cornell University, introduces her students to the raw feeling of typing without online assistance. No screens, online dictionaries, spellcheckers or delete keys.

"The exercise started in spring 2023 as Phelps grew frustrated with the reality that students were using generative AI and online translation platforms to churn out grammatically perfect assignments.

" 'What’s the point of me reading it if it’s already correct anyway, and you didn’t write it yourself? Could you produce it without your computer?' said Phelps.

"She wanted students to understand what writing, thinking and classrooms were like before everything turned digital. So, she found a few dozen old manual typewriters in thrift shops and online marketplaces, and created what her syllabus calls an 'analog' assignment."

Read more:
https://apnews.com/article/typewriter-ai-cheating-chatgpt-cornell-ce10e1ca0f10c96f79b7d988bb56448b

#LudditeClub #AnalogLearning #AISucks #DumbingUsDown

@memeorandum There's an easy way to get around use of Einstein and other #AIAgents... IN-CLASS WRITING and NO PHONES!

"Assessment redesign toward formats less amenable to full automation, including oral exams, in-person evaluations, iterative project work, and authentic assessments tied to process evidence. "

https://biztechweekly.com/einstein-ai-by-companion-ai-automating-homework-on-canvas-raises-academic-integrity-concerns/

#AISucks #DumbingUsDown #EinsteinAI #CanvasPlatform

@memeorandum There's an easy way to get around use of Einstein and other #AIAgents... IN-CLASS WRITING and NO PHONES!

"Assessment redesign toward formats less amenable to full automation, including oral exams, in-person evaluations, iterative project work, and authentic assessments tied to process evidence. "

https://biztechweekly.com/einstein-ai-by-companion-ai-automating-homework-on-canvas-raises-academic-integrity-concerns/

#AISucks #DumbingUsDown #EinsteinAI #CanvasPlatform

@memeorandum There's an easy way to get around use of Einstein and other #AIAgents... IN-CLASS WRITING and NO PHONES!

"Assessment redesign toward formats less amenable to full automation, including oral exams, in-person evaluations, iterative project work, and authentic assessments tied to process evidence. "

https://biztechweekly.com/einstein-ai-by-companion-ai-automating-homework-on-canvas-raises-academic-integrity-concerns/

#AISucks #DumbingUsDown #EinsteinAI #CanvasPlatform

@memeorandum There's an easy way to get around use of Einstein and other #AIAgents... IN-CLASS WRITING and NO PHONES!

"Assessment redesign toward formats less amenable to full automation, including oral exams, in-person evaluations, iterative project work, and authentic assessments tied to process evidence. "

https://biztechweekly.com/einstein-ai-by-companion-ai-automating-homework-on-canvas-raises-academic-integrity-concerns/

#AISucks #DumbingUsDown #EinsteinAI #CanvasPlatform

@memeorandum There's an easy way to get around use of Einstein and other #AIAgents... IN-CLASS WRITING and NO PHONES!

"Assessment redesign toward formats less amenable to full automation, including oral exams, in-person evaluations, iterative project work, and authentic assessments tied to process evidence. "

https://biztechweekly.com/einstein-ai-by-companion-ai-automating-homework-on-canvas-raises-academic-integrity-concerns/

#AISucks #DumbingUsDown #EinsteinAI #CanvasPlatform

Does using #AI dumb you down?

by Willis Ryder Arnold, Meghna Chakrabarti, August 11, 2025

Excerpt: "CHAKRABARTI: ... Well, actually, Nataliya, before you do that, I do want to, I promise you, we will hear the final. I'm just like teasing, I'm teasing listeners today, but since both of you have actually mentioned handwriting, I do wanna just pause for a second and talk about that.

"Because in my personal N=1 of my life, I type every day like any normal person, almost all my writing is done through typing, but I don't know, I find myself that when I like, really want to remember something or it's of high value to me, I pick up a pencil or a pen.

"And somehow that embeds it more deeply into my brain, specifically my aging, working memory.

"So because of that, we actually reached out to one of the researchers that you mentioned who has done research on handwriting to understand like how we process information and think differently depending on how we're physically writing. And according to on Audrey van der Meer the answer is quite a bit.

"AUDREY VAN DER MEER: We actually looked at the connectivity patterns in the brain during handwriting and typewriting, and we found that the brain is much more connected during handwriting than it is during typewriting.

"CHAKRABARTI: van der Meer is a researcher and professor of neuropsychology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

"And in her research she used students, once again, the universal Guinea pig, as subjects. And it sounds like the experiment might've looked exactly how you'd think, but maybe with the fun twist.

"VAN DER MEER: They were wearing one of our characteristic electrode nets. Consisting of 256 sensitive electrodes sewn together as like a hair net on their heads, and they were playing the game Pictionary. So we presented Pictionary words on a large screen, and they were supposed to either write the word by hand, draw the word by hand, or type the word on a keyboard. And we recorded their ongoing brain activity while they were performing those tasks.

"CHAKRABARTI: And just like Nataliya's team did, van der Meer recorded that brain activity on an EEG, and she says the number of brain functions, visual processing, sensory motor integration, and the motor cortex are notably more engaged when writing by hand.

"VAN DER MEER: The brain does this through neural oscillations that can oscillate at different frequencies and in different parts of the brain and that kind, those kind of oscillations in the regions of the brain where we found activity are usually involved in learning and memory. So these kind of oscillations, they put the brain in a kind of state that makes it easier to learn from your handwriting activities and to remember what the notes were about.

"CHAKRABARTI: Writing by hand can also promote recall of experience in place because it helps cement memories that are unique to us. According to van der Meer:

"VAN DER MEER: Handwritten notes are very personal. When you then take them up in order to study for the exam, for instance, everything is coming back because it feels like you're back in the lecture theater again.

"And that's why sending your mate to a lecture to take notes doesn't work because notes, hundred of notes are typically very personal."

Read more / listen:
https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2025/08/11/ai-writing-chatgpt-study-cognitive

#AISucks #AIIsDumbingUsDown #AIResistance #Handwriting #BrainHealth #Datacenters #DumbingUsDown

Does using #AI dumb you down?

by Willis Ryder Arnold, Meghna Chakrabarti, August 11, 2025

Excerpt: "CHAKRABARTI: ... Well, actually, Nataliya, before you do that, I do want to, I promise you, we will hear the final. I'm just like teasing, I'm teasing listeners today, but since both of you have actually mentioned handwriting, I do wanna just pause for a second and talk about that.

"Because in my personal N=1 of my life, I type every day like any normal person, almost all my writing is done through typing, but I don't know, I find myself that when I like, really want to remember something or it's of high value to me, I pick up a pencil or a pen.

"And somehow that embeds it more deeply into my brain, specifically my aging, working memory.

"So because of that, we actually reached out to one of the researchers that you mentioned who has done research on handwriting to understand like how we process information and think differently depending on how we're physically writing. And according to on Audrey van der Meer the answer is quite a bit.

"AUDREY VAN DER MEER: We actually looked at the connectivity patterns in the brain during handwriting and typewriting, and we found that the brain is much more connected during handwriting than it is during typewriting.

"CHAKRABARTI: van der Meer is a researcher and professor of neuropsychology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

"And in her research she used students, once again, the universal Guinea pig, as subjects. And it sounds like the experiment might've looked exactly how you'd think, but maybe with the fun twist.

"VAN DER MEER: They were wearing one of our characteristic electrode nets. Consisting of 256 sensitive electrodes sewn together as like a hair net on their heads, and they were playing the game Pictionary. So we presented Pictionary words on a large screen, and they were supposed to either write the word by hand, draw the word by hand, or type the word on a keyboard. And we recorded their ongoing brain activity while they were performing those tasks.

"CHAKRABARTI: And just like Nataliya's team did, van der Meer recorded that brain activity on an EEG, and she says the number of brain functions, visual processing, sensory motor integration, and the motor cortex are notably more engaged when writing by hand.

"VAN DER MEER: The brain does this through neural oscillations that can oscillate at different frequencies and in different parts of the brain and that kind, those kind of oscillations in the regions of the brain where we found activity are usually involved in learning and memory. So these kind of oscillations, they put the brain in a kind of state that makes it easier to learn from your handwriting activities and to remember what the notes were about.

"CHAKRABARTI: Writing by hand can also promote recall of experience in place because it helps cement memories that are unique to us. According to van der Meer:

"VAN DER MEER: Handwritten notes are very personal. When you then take them up in order to study for the exam, for instance, everything is coming back because it feels like you're back in the lecture theater again.

"And that's why sending your mate to a lecture to take notes doesn't work because notes, hundred of notes are typically very personal."

Read more / listen:
https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2025/08/11/ai-writing-chatgpt-study-cognitive

#AISucks #AIIsDumbingUsDown #AIResistance #Handwriting #BrainHealth #Datacenters #DumbingUsDown

Does using #AI dumb you down?

by Willis Ryder Arnold, Meghna Chakrabarti, August 11, 2025

Excerpt: "CHAKRABARTI: ... Well, actually, Nataliya, before you do that, I do want to, I promise you, we will hear the final. I'm just like teasing, I'm teasing listeners today, but since both of you have actually mentioned handwriting, I do wanna just pause for a second and talk about that.

"Because in my personal N=1 of my life, I type every day like any normal person, almost all my writing is done through typing, but I don't know, I find myself that when I like, really want to remember something or it's of high value to me, I pick up a pencil or a pen.

"And somehow that embeds it more deeply into my brain, specifically my aging, working memory.

"So because of that, we actually reached out to one of the researchers that you mentioned who has done research on handwriting to understand like how we process information and think differently depending on how we're physically writing. And according to on Audrey van der Meer the answer is quite a bit.

"AUDREY VAN DER MEER: We actually looked at the connectivity patterns in the brain during handwriting and typewriting, and we found that the brain is much more connected during handwriting than it is during typewriting.

"CHAKRABARTI: van der Meer is a researcher and professor of neuropsychology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

"And in her research she used students, once again, the universal Guinea pig, as subjects. And it sounds like the experiment might've looked exactly how you'd think, but maybe with the fun twist.

"VAN DER MEER: They were wearing one of our characteristic electrode nets. Consisting of 256 sensitive electrodes sewn together as like a hair net on their heads, and they were playing the game Pictionary. So we presented Pictionary words on a large screen, and they were supposed to either write the word by hand, draw the word by hand, or type the word on a keyboard. And we recorded their ongoing brain activity while they were performing those tasks.

"CHAKRABARTI: And just like Nataliya's team did, van der Meer recorded that brain activity on an EEG, and she says the number of brain functions, visual processing, sensory motor integration, and the motor cortex are notably more engaged when writing by hand.

"VAN DER MEER: The brain does this through neural oscillations that can oscillate at different frequencies and in different parts of the brain and that kind, those kind of oscillations in the regions of the brain where we found activity are usually involved in learning and memory. So these kind of oscillations, they put the brain in a kind of state that makes it easier to learn from your handwriting activities and to remember what the notes were about.

"CHAKRABARTI: Writing by hand can also promote recall of experience in place because it helps cement memories that are unique to us. According to van der Meer:

"VAN DER MEER: Handwritten notes are very personal. When you then take them up in order to study for the exam, for instance, everything is coming back because it feels like you're back in the lecture theater again.

"And that's why sending your mate to a lecture to take notes doesn't work because notes, hundred of notes are typically very personal."

Read more / listen:
https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2025/08/11/ai-writing-chatgpt-study-cognitive

#AISucks #AIIsDumbingUsDown #AIResistance #Handwriting #BrainHealth #Datacenters #DumbingUsDown

Does using #AI dumb you down?

by Willis Ryder Arnold, Meghna Chakrabarti, August 11, 2025

Excerpt: "CHAKRABARTI: ... Well, actually, Nataliya, before you do that, I do want to, I promise you, we will hear the final. I'm just like teasing, I'm teasing listeners today, but since both of you have actually mentioned handwriting, I do wanna just pause for a second and talk about that.

"Because in my personal N=1 of my life, I type every day like any normal person, almost all my writing is done through typing, but I don't know, I find myself that when I like, really want to remember something or it's of high value to me, I pick up a pencil or a pen.

"And somehow that embeds it more deeply into my brain, specifically my aging, working memory.

"So because of that, we actually reached out to one of the researchers that you mentioned who has done research on handwriting to understand like how we process information and think differently depending on how we're physically writing. And according to on Audrey van der Meer the answer is quite a bit.

"AUDREY VAN DER MEER: We actually looked at the connectivity patterns in the brain during handwriting and typewriting, and we found that the brain is much more connected during handwriting than it is during typewriting.

"CHAKRABARTI: van der Meer is a researcher and professor of neuropsychology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

"And in her research she used students, once again, the universal Guinea pig, as subjects. And it sounds like the experiment might've looked exactly how you'd think, but maybe with the fun twist.

"VAN DER MEER: They were wearing one of our characteristic electrode nets. Consisting of 256 sensitive electrodes sewn together as like a hair net on their heads, and they were playing the game Pictionary. So we presented Pictionary words on a large screen, and they were supposed to either write the word by hand, draw the word by hand, or type the word on a keyboard. And we recorded their ongoing brain activity while they were performing those tasks.

"CHAKRABARTI: And just like Nataliya's team did, van der Meer recorded that brain activity on an EEG, and she says the number of brain functions, visual processing, sensory motor integration, and the motor cortex are notably more engaged when writing by hand.

"VAN DER MEER: The brain does this through neural oscillations that can oscillate at different frequencies and in different parts of the brain and that kind, those kind of oscillations in the regions of the brain where we found activity are usually involved in learning and memory. So these kind of oscillations, they put the brain in a kind of state that makes it easier to learn from your handwriting activities and to remember what the notes were about.

"CHAKRABARTI: Writing by hand can also promote recall of experience in place because it helps cement memories that are unique to us. According to van der Meer:

"VAN DER MEER: Handwritten notes are very personal. When you then take them up in order to study for the exam, for instance, everything is coming back because it feels like you're back in the lecture theater again.

"And that's why sending your mate to a lecture to take notes doesn't work because notes, hundred of notes are typically very personal."

Read more / listen:
https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2025/08/11/ai-writing-chatgpt-study-cognitive

#AISucks #AIIsDumbingUsDown #AIResistance #Handwriting #BrainHealth #Datacenters #DumbingUsDown

Does using #AI dumb you down?

by Willis Ryder Arnold, Meghna Chakrabarti, August 11, 2025

Excerpt: "CHAKRABARTI: ... Well, actually, Nataliya, before you do that, I do want to, I promise you, we will hear the final. I'm just like teasing, I'm teasing listeners today, but since both of you have actually mentioned handwriting, I do wanna just pause for a second and talk about that.

"Because in my personal N=1 of my life, I type every day like any normal person, almost all my writing is done through typing, but I don't know, I find myself that when I like, really want to remember something or it's of high value to me, I pick up a pencil or a pen.

"And somehow that embeds it more deeply into my brain, specifically my aging, working memory.

"So because of that, we actually reached out to one of the researchers that you mentioned who has done research on handwriting to understand like how we process information and think differently depending on how we're physically writing. And according to on Audrey van der Meer the answer is quite a bit.

"AUDREY VAN DER MEER: We actually looked at the connectivity patterns in the brain during handwriting and typewriting, and we found that the brain is much more connected during handwriting than it is during typewriting.

"CHAKRABARTI: van der Meer is a researcher and professor of neuropsychology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

"And in her research she used students, once again, the universal Guinea pig, as subjects. And it sounds like the experiment might've looked exactly how you'd think, but maybe with the fun twist.

"VAN DER MEER: They were wearing one of our characteristic electrode nets. Consisting of 256 sensitive electrodes sewn together as like a hair net on their heads, and they were playing the game Pictionary. So we presented Pictionary words on a large screen, and they were supposed to either write the word by hand, draw the word by hand, or type the word on a keyboard. And we recorded their ongoing brain activity while they were performing those tasks.

"CHAKRABARTI: And just like Nataliya's team did, van der Meer recorded that brain activity on an EEG, and she says the number of brain functions, visual processing, sensory motor integration, and the motor cortex are notably more engaged when writing by hand.

"VAN DER MEER: The brain does this through neural oscillations that can oscillate at different frequencies and in different parts of the brain and that kind, those kind of oscillations in the regions of the brain where we found activity are usually involved in learning and memory. So these kind of oscillations, they put the brain in a kind of state that makes it easier to learn from your handwriting activities and to remember what the notes were about.

"CHAKRABARTI: Writing by hand can also promote recall of experience in place because it helps cement memories that are unique to us. According to van der Meer:

"VAN DER MEER: Handwritten notes are very personal. When you then take them up in order to study for the exam, for instance, everything is coming back because it feels like you're back in the lecture theater again.

"And that's why sending your mate to a lecture to take notes doesn't work because notes, hundred of notes are typically very personal."

Read more / listen:
https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2025/08/11/ai-writing-chatgpt-study-cognitive

#AISucks #AIIsDumbingUsDown #AIResistance #Handwriting #BrainHealth #Datacenters #DumbingUsDown

So, taking off to run a few errands. I'm thinking that this afternoon/evening I'll be posting about a topic that's been on my mind for a while -- is #AI #DumbingUsDown? A lot of you won't be surprised at what the studies say. AI and #DataCenters are NOT worth the price to the #Environment or our #BrainHealth!

#AISucks #AIIsDumbingUsDown #NoNukesForAI #NoNukesForDatacenters #ElectricityHogs #WaterUsage #WaterIsLife #NoisePollution

Is #AI Making Us Stupider? This Study Certainly Thinks So

New research highlights the impact of AI on #CriticalThinking skills.

Posted August 21, 2025 | Reviewed by Michelle Quirk

Key points
- Using AI to do the thinking impacts not only quality of work but also the long-term acquisition of skills.
- AI can have a place in education, but it needs to be carefully employed.
- Employing AI is having a detrimental impact on our ability to think critically.

Excerpt: "A new study by #MIT has published initial results highlighting a likely connection between large language models (#LLMs)—colloquially grouped under the banner of AI—and a direct cognitive cost, particularly when it comes to our ability to think critically. They conducted a study using a pool of 54 participants, divided into three groups. The groups were asked to deliver an SAT-grade essay, with the first group granted access to #ChatGPT, the second to traditional #GoogleSearch, and the third with no search resources at all. Group 3 was referred to as the '#BrainOnly' group.

"Over time, each participant had to produce several essays, and each time was attached to an EEG to record brain activity across 32 regions. Consistently, ChatGPT users had the lowest brain engagement for every essay, and worryingly showed decreasing brain activity over time, as they progressed through the essay assignments. What this represents is the ChatGPT participants getting '#lazier' with each subsequent essay, with many resorting to copy-and-paste content by the end of the study. The study also recorded that this group 'consistently underperformed at #neural, #linguistic, and behavioral levels.' The findings make sense; with ChatGPT doing much of the work, it's easier on our #cognitive processes, and it is unsurprising that it takes less mental effort.

"Perhaps the more concerning aspect of the findings is the connection between #ReducedBrainActivity and impact on long-term learning and memory. As well as recording the participants' level of satisfaction, #curiosity, #creativity and #memory as part of the study—which were all high for both the brain-only and the search assisted groups (groups 2 and 3)—a later part of the study asked each group to reproduce one of their earlier essays, with the ChatGPT group asked to do so without access to any tools. There was little evidence of this group's participants remembering much of their previous essay, highlighting the very necessary link between #CognitiveEngagement and memory and, therefore, the potential impact on #LongTermLearning and gaining new skills. Conversely, and perhaps reassuringly, however, the brain-only group was then permitted to rewrite their essay with access to ChatGPT, with their efforts showing higher levels of creativity and stronger arguments, while retaining original thinking and unique language. This could present reassurance that, employed properly, AI has a place in enhancing learning without diminishing cognitive capability.

"Despite awaiting peer review and using only a small participant sample, the research team decided to release their findings in advance of peer feedback, in what they highlight as an urgent consideration of #LearningWithAI."

Read more:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-art-of-critical-thinking/202507/is-ai-making-us-stupider-this-study-certainly-thinks-so

#DumbingUsDown #AIIsDumbingUsDown #AISucks #UseYourBrain #CriticalThinkingSkills #EvaluatingSources #UseAIWithCaution

Is #AI Making Us Stupider? This Study Certainly Thinks So

New research highlights the impact of AI on #CriticalThinking skills.

Posted August 21, 2025 | Reviewed by Michelle Quirk

Key points
- Using AI to do the thinking impacts not only quality of work but also the long-term acquisition of skills.
- AI can have a place in education, but it needs to be carefully employed.
- Employing AI is having a detrimental impact on our ability to think critically.

Excerpt: "A new study by #MIT has published initial results highlighting a likely connection between large language models (#LLMs)—colloquially grouped under the banner of AI—and a direct cognitive cost, particularly when it comes to our ability to think critically. They conducted a study using a pool of 54 participants, divided into three groups. The groups were asked to deliver an SAT-grade essay, with the first group granted access to #ChatGPT, the second to traditional #GoogleSearch, and the third with no search resources at all. Group 3 was referred to as the '#BrainOnly' group.

"Over time, each participant had to produce several essays, and each time was attached to an EEG to record brain activity across 32 regions. Consistently, ChatGPT users had the lowest brain engagement for every essay, and worryingly showed decreasing brain activity over time, as they progressed through the essay assignments. What this represents is the ChatGPT participants getting '#lazier' with each subsequent essay, with many resorting to copy-and-paste content by the end of the study. The study also recorded that this group 'consistently underperformed at #neural, #linguistic, and behavioral levels.' The findings make sense; with ChatGPT doing much of the work, it's easier on our #cognitive processes, and it is unsurprising that it takes less mental effort.

"Perhaps the more concerning aspect of the findings is the connection between #ReducedBrainActivity and impact on long-term learning and memory. As well as recording the participants' level of satisfaction, #curiosity, #creativity and #memory as part of the study—which were all high for both the brain-only and the search assisted groups (groups 2 and 3)—a later part of the study asked each group to reproduce one of their earlier essays, with the ChatGPT group asked to do so without access to any tools. There was little evidence of this group's participants remembering much of their previous essay, highlighting the very necessary link between #CognitiveEngagement and memory and, therefore, the potential impact on #LongTermLearning and gaining new skills. Conversely, and perhaps reassuringly, however, the brain-only group was then permitted to rewrite their essay with access to ChatGPT, with their efforts showing higher levels of creativity and stronger arguments, while retaining original thinking and unique language. This could present reassurance that, employed properly, AI has a place in enhancing learning without diminishing cognitive capability.

"Despite awaiting peer review and using only a small participant sample, the research team decided to release their findings in advance of peer feedback, in what they highlight as an urgent consideration of #LearningWithAI."

Read more:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-art-of-critical-thinking/202507/is-ai-making-us-stupider-this-study-certainly-thinks-so

#DumbingUsDown #AIIsDumbingUsDown #AISucks #UseYourBrain #CriticalThinkingSkills #EvaluatingSources #UseAIWithCaution

Is #AI Making Us Stupider? This Study Certainly Thinks So

New research highlights the impact of AI on #CriticalThinking skills.

Posted August 21, 2025 | Reviewed by Michelle Quirk

Key points
- Using AI to do the thinking impacts not only quality of work but also the long-term acquisition of skills.
- AI can have a place in education, but it needs to be carefully employed.
- Employing AI is having a detrimental impact on our ability to think critically.

Excerpt: "A new study by #MIT has published initial results highlighting a likely connection between large language models (#LLMs)—colloquially grouped under the banner of AI—and a direct cognitive cost, particularly when it comes to our ability to think critically. They conducted a study using a pool of 54 participants, divided into three groups. The groups were asked to deliver an SAT-grade essay, with the first group granted access to #ChatGPT, the second to traditional #GoogleSearch, and the third with no search resources at all. Group 3 was referred to as the '#BrainOnly' group.

"Over time, each participant had to produce several essays, and each time was attached to an EEG to record brain activity across 32 regions. Consistently, ChatGPT users had the lowest brain engagement for every essay, and worryingly showed decreasing brain activity over time, as they progressed through the essay assignments. What this represents is the ChatGPT participants getting '#lazier' with each subsequent essay, with many resorting to copy-and-paste content by the end of the study. The study also recorded that this group 'consistently underperformed at #neural, #linguistic, and behavioral levels.' The findings make sense; with ChatGPT doing much of the work, it's easier on our #cognitive processes, and it is unsurprising that it takes less mental effort.

"Perhaps the more concerning aspect of the findings is the connection between #ReducedBrainActivity and impact on long-term learning and memory. As well as recording the participants' level of satisfaction, #curiosity, #creativity and #memory as part of the study—which were all high for both the brain-only and the search assisted groups (groups 2 and 3)—a later part of the study asked each group to reproduce one of their earlier essays, with the ChatGPT group asked to do so without access to any tools. There was little evidence of this group's participants remembering much of their previous essay, highlighting the very necessary link between #CognitiveEngagement and memory and, therefore, the potential impact on #LongTermLearning and gaining new skills. Conversely, and perhaps reassuringly, however, the brain-only group was then permitted to rewrite their essay with access to ChatGPT, with their efforts showing higher levels of creativity and stronger arguments, while retaining original thinking and unique language. This could present reassurance that, employed properly, AI has a place in enhancing learning without diminishing cognitive capability.

"Despite awaiting peer review and using only a small participant sample, the research team decided to release their findings in advance of peer feedback, in what they highlight as an urgent consideration of #LearningWithAI."

Read more:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-art-of-critical-thinking/202507/is-ai-making-us-stupider-this-study-certainly-thinks-so

#DumbingUsDown #AIIsDumbingUsDown #AISucks #UseYourBrain #CriticalThinkingSkills #EvaluatingSources #UseAIWithCaution

Is #AI Making Us Stupider? This Study Certainly Thinks So

New research highlights the impact of AI on #CriticalThinking skills.

Posted August 21, 2025 | Reviewed by Michelle Quirk

Key points
- Using AI to do the thinking impacts not only quality of work but also the long-term acquisition of skills.
- AI can have a place in education, but it needs to be carefully employed.
- Employing AI is having a detrimental impact on our ability to think critically.

Excerpt: "A new study by #MIT has published initial results highlighting a likely connection between large language models (#LLMs)—colloquially grouped under the banner of AI—and a direct cognitive cost, particularly when it comes to our ability to think critically. They conducted a study using a pool of 54 participants, divided into three groups. The groups were asked to deliver an SAT-grade essay, with the first group granted access to #ChatGPT, the second to traditional #GoogleSearch, and the third with no search resources at all. Group 3 was referred to as the '#BrainOnly' group.

"Over time, each participant had to produce several essays, and each time was attached to an EEG to record brain activity across 32 regions. Consistently, ChatGPT users had the lowest brain engagement for every essay, and worryingly showed decreasing brain activity over time, as they progressed through the essay assignments. What this represents is the ChatGPT participants getting '#lazier' with each subsequent essay, with many resorting to copy-and-paste content by the end of the study. The study also recorded that this group 'consistently underperformed at #neural, #linguistic, and behavioral levels.' The findings make sense; with ChatGPT doing much of the work, it's easier on our #cognitive processes, and it is unsurprising that it takes less mental effort.

"Perhaps the more concerning aspect of the findings is the connection between #ReducedBrainActivity and impact on long-term learning and memory. As well as recording the participants' level of satisfaction, #curiosity, #creativity and #memory as part of the study—which were all high for both the brain-only and the search assisted groups (groups 2 and 3)—a later part of the study asked each group to reproduce one of their earlier essays, with the ChatGPT group asked to do so without access to any tools. There was little evidence of this group's participants remembering much of their previous essay, highlighting the very necessary link between #CognitiveEngagement and memory and, therefore, the potential impact on #LongTermLearning and gaining new skills. Conversely, and perhaps reassuringly, however, the brain-only group was then permitted to rewrite their essay with access to ChatGPT, with their efforts showing higher levels of creativity and stronger arguments, while retaining original thinking and unique language. This could present reassurance that, employed properly, AI has a place in enhancing learning without diminishing cognitive capability.

"Despite awaiting peer review and using only a small participant sample, the research team decided to release their findings in advance of peer feedback, in what they highlight as an urgent consideration of #LearningWithAI."

Read more:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-art-of-critical-thinking/202507/is-ai-making-us-stupider-this-study-certainly-thinks-so

#DumbingUsDown #AIIsDumbingUsDown #AISucks #UseYourBrain #CriticalThinkingSkills #EvaluatingSources #UseAIWithCaution

Is #AI Making Us Stupider? This Study Certainly Thinks So

New research highlights the impact of AI on #CriticalThinking skills.

Posted August 21, 2025 | Reviewed by Michelle Quirk

Key points
- Using AI to do the thinking impacts not only quality of work but also the long-term acquisition of skills.
- AI can have a place in education, but it needs to be carefully employed.
- Employing AI is having a detrimental impact on our ability to think critically.

Excerpt: "A new study by #MIT has published initial results highlighting a likely connection between large language models (#LLMs)—colloquially grouped under the banner of AI—and a direct cognitive cost, particularly when it comes to our ability to think critically. They conducted a study using a pool of 54 participants, divided into three groups. The groups were asked to deliver an SAT-grade essay, with the first group granted access to #ChatGPT, the second to traditional #GoogleSearch, and the third with no search resources at all. Group 3 was referred to as the '#BrainOnly' group.

"Over time, each participant had to produce several essays, and each time was attached to an EEG to record brain activity across 32 regions. Consistently, ChatGPT users had the lowest brain engagement for every essay, and worryingly showed decreasing brain activity over time, as they progressed through the essay assignments. What this represents is the ChatGPT participants getting '#lazier' with each subsequent essay, with many resorting to copy-and-paste content by the end of the study. The study also recorded that this group 'consistently underperformed at #neural, #linguistic, and behavioral levels.' The findings make sense; with ChatGPT doing much of the work, it's easier on our #cognitive processes, and it is unsurprising that it takes less mental effort.

"Perhaps the more concerning aspect of the findings is the connection between #ReducedBrainActivity and impact on long-term learning and memory. As well as recording the participants' level of satisfaction, #curiosity, #creativity and #memory as part of the study—which were all high for both the brain-only and the search assisted groups (groups 2 and 3)—a later part of the study asked each group to reproduce one of their earlier essays, with the ChatGPT group asked to do so without access to any tools. There was little evidence of this group's participants remembering much of their previous essay, highlighting the very necessary link between #CognitiveEngagement and memory and, therefore, the potential impact on #LongTermLearning and gaining new skills. Conversely, and perhaps reassuringly, however, the brain-only group was then permitted to rewrite their essay with access to ChatGPT, with their efforts showing higher levels of creativity and stronger arguments, while retaining original thinking and unique language. This could present reassurance that, employed properly, AI has a place in enhancing learning without diminishing cognitive capability.

"Despite awaiting peer review and using only a small participant sample, the research team decided to release their findings in advance of peer feedback, in what they highlight as an urgent consideration of #LearningWithAI."

Read more:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-art-of-critical-thinking/202507/is-ai-making-us-stupider-this-study-certainly-thinks-so

#DumbingUsDown #AIIsDumbingUsDown #AISucks #UseYourBrain #CriticalThinkingSkills #EvaluatingSources #UseAIWithCaution

#AdoptAStation Database:

https://adoptastation.org/

#CBPFundingCuts #CommunityRadio #PublicBroadcasting #PublicRadio #PublicMedia #CPBFunding #CPB
#CollegeRadio #DumbingUsDown #KeepingUsInTheDark #TrumpSucks #Fundraising #EmergencyFundraising

College-Affiliated #PublicMedia Stand to Lose Big Under Cuts

The Trump administration’s cuts to #PublicRadio and television may create #NewsDeserts and limit experiential learning opportunities for students.

By Ashley Mowreader, July 23, 2025

"Recent federal cuts are hacking at an additional piece of college and university budgets and operations: on-campus broadcast and radio stations.

"On July 18, Congress voted to rescind $1.1 billion in federal funds for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (#CPB), which gives money to #NPR, #PBS and their member stations. The move hurts #LocalStations across the country, particularly in #rural regions, as well as dozens of broadcast hubs located at or affiliated with #colleges.

"More than half of NPR’s 1,000 member stations are licensed to or affiliated with colleges or #universities, according to NPR’s website. A 2019 PBS article listed 49 university and college public television licensees, a majority of which belong to public institutions—many of them flagship or public #LandGrant universities, but some community and technical #colleges as well.

"Data analysis by Alex Curley, a former NPR staffer and author of the blog Semipublic, found that university licensees were far more dependent than non-college affiliated stations on 'non-operating revenue,' which includes #CPBFunding and other money allocated by their parent organization to cover losses. Out of the 173 public stations Curley analyzed, 129 university licensees relied on nonoperating revenue for about 41 percent of their total revenue, compared to the 21 percent it covered for non-college–affiliated stations.

" 'For stations that lose federal funding, especially those who are losing a lot in relation to total revenue, that’s going to put a huge burden on their parent organization [the college or university] because they’re the only ones who can cover that deficit,' Curley said.

"On average, CPB funding makes up 12 percent of independently owned and operated public radio stations’ budgets, according to Northwestern University’s Medill School 2023 State of Local News Report. Curley’s analysis found that 15 percent of all stations relied on federal funding for 50 percent or more of their total revenue intake.

"An Inside Higher Ed analysis of Curley’s data found that cuts to CPB and other relevant federal funding could decimate university-based stations’ expected revenue.

Methodology

"To compile his database, Adopt a Station, Curley drew on two types of financial reports by public broadcast statements to identify where they sourced their revenue and how much federal funding they received. Based on these reports, Curley estimated how a lack of CPB dollars and other relevant grants would impact total revenue sources. [See the full database at link below.]

"#HowardUniversity’s TV station, #WHUT — which was recently awarded two Emmys for its work—lost as much as 21 percent, based on 2023 numbers from the station’s financial reports of revenue from federal sources.

"#KISU, the local station for #IdahoStateUniversity students and community members—which produces the athletics broadcast for Division 1 sports—is also poised to take a hit; 30 percent of the station’s funding comes from student fees, but an additional 30 percent comes from CPB.

"Some institutions host both radio and TV stations that saw budgets slashed. At #VincennesUniversity in #Indiana, TV station #WVUT is projected to lose 39 percent of its usual revenue from CPB dollars, while radio station #WVUB could lose 27 percent, according to Curley’s data, which would place greater pressure on the institution to fill the gap.

"In #WashingtonState, #SkagitValleyCommunityCollege’s radio station, #KSVR—which provides bilingual reporting to the Mount Vernon community, hosted by staff, local and student volunteers—is projected to lose 20 percent of its revenue.

"The cuts will also likely reduce opportunities on many campuses for students to gain hands-on experience working in a newsroom or alongside professionals. When cuts took place at public media stations in the past, those affiliated with a college or university were less likely to see reductions in force, Curley said—in part because the university could cover the losses they incurred.

"Now, in an environment where colleges and universities are facing deficits across revenue sources, college-based media stations have less of a safety net.

" 'I have no idea what’s going to happen,' Curley said. 'It’s almost new territory for many university licensees.'

"#ElizabethCityStateUniversity’s on-campus station, #WRVS, has five employees and a gaggle of student interns, work-study students and community volunteers who keep the station up and running. But under the latest federal cuts, WRVS’s expected revenue will be slashed an estimated 71 percent.

"Not every university-affiliated station has the same reliance on federal dollars; the University of Georgia’s WUGA, for instance, reported that just 1 percent of total revenue came from federal funds in 2023. The University of Florida’s WUFT-FM received about 5 percent of total revenue from the government, thanks in part to #fundraising efforts and in part to the success of the station in its local area, Curley said.

"A 2023 survey of 215 public radio stations found that, on average, colleges contribute less than 15 percent of funding to affiliated radio stations, and 80 percent of stations thought it was unlikely that they would receive additional financial support from their institution.

"In some parts of the country, student publications, radio and TV stations are the singular source of news for communities. But a lack of funding and support for current operations remains a primary barrier to getting more students involved in public media, according to a 2023 survey by the University of Vermont.

"The move to cut funding for CPB is generally unpopular with Americans. A Harris Poll on behalf of NPR published in July found that two-thirds of nearly 2,100 Americans surveyed support federal funding for public radio, with a similar number calling it a good value for taxpayer dollars. A 2025 survey found that 47 percent of viewers say PBS’s value for public dollars is excellent and an additional 29 percent said it’s good."

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/business/financial-health/2025/07/23/college-affiliated-public-media-stand-lose-big-under-cuts#

#AdoptAStation Database:
https://adoptastation.org/

#CBPFundingCuts
#CollegeRadio #DumbingUsDown #KeepingUsInTheDark #TrumpSucks

So, personally, I think the problem started when parents started using television sets as babysitters. And yeah. I had a TV (black and white) in my room at probably too young an age, and a landline when I was 16. Nowadays, I use a computer when I want to go online, and only use my smartphone for important calls/texts, and identifying birds and plants. I don't understand folks who are staring at their phones 24/7, and ignoring the world around them. It's been going on for a while now...

When Kids Are Addicted to Their Phones, Who is to Blame?

By Kathryn Jezer-Morton
Mar. 30, 2024

Excerpt: "While reading #JonathanHaidt’s recent long, evidence-filled manifesto in The Atlantic, 'End the Phone-Based Childhood Now,' I began to think about how this line of thinking has become costly to ignore. (Haidt’s book on which the article is based, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, came out on March 26.) He argues that indicators of childhood well-being in developed nations began precipitously decreasing at exactly the same time that smartphones became widely available. He argues, thoroughly, that these falling indicators can’t be linked to any one nation’s problem — instead, it’s the common denominator we all share. It’s not America and its guns. It’s not South Korea and its pressure on young people to test into professions. It’s everywhere, and it’s the phones.

"There is nuance to Haidt’s evidence, even though it is overwhelmingly making a simple, unambiguous argument. He identifies two entwined causes of the decline in young people’s mental health and well-being: parents’ increased protectiveness of their children and children’s increased access to smartphones. It’s not the fault of video games or even social media per se. (Millennials came of age with video games with no measurable harm done, and younger millennials came of age with social media in the desktop era — no lasting scars but for the embarrassing Facebook pics from 2007.) The problem is in the mobility of the technology. It’s the affordances of privacy and portability, and the access to these affordances, that parents have given their children.

"Ultimately, what Haidt is implying, with the utmost tact, is that we parents need to start acting differently. Our kids’ reliance on mobile devices to pass the time starts long before high school, and it coalesces into an unshakeable habit under our watch — or, rather, while our gaze is averted and we’re looking at our phones. No legislation, no industry-oversight panel, is going to help us. Apple’s and Google’s executives know enough to withhold mobile devices from their kids, but they’re not going to stop selling them to ours.

"What Haidt doesn’t say is that parents can’t change their kids’ relationships with their phones and tablets without also addressing their own. Criticizing parents is very treacherous for any public figure, so it’s understandable that Haidt would avoid doing so.

"People with very strong opinions about parenting are usually pushing a skewed ideological agenda and are best ignored. A 'screen-free childhood'? Sounds precious. No thanks! Haidt may be an over-50 white guy, but he is not making an ideological argument in this book. His suggestions are realistic, and his argument is not shrill. We’re beyond moral panic. I know many children who are absolutely addicted to their mobile devices, whether we’re talking about a Nintendo Switch, a phone, or an iPad. This circumstance is normal now — so normal, in fact, that you’d be rude and tasteless to remark on it. Our social norms have been very quickly reshaped around this behavior. Kids who aren’t on iPads at the restaurant are the ones who get remarked on, not those who are.

"It’s a lot like any other kind of addiction: We’ve learned to tread very lightly around it, to explain it away. But unlike adults who live with addiction, children are not responsible for themselves. They can reasonably expect their parents to take responsibility for them, at least until high school. (At which point even Haidt says they get to have phones, so all bets are off!)

"The impossible condition of parenting is part of what has gotten us here. Parents work too much, and there is no affordable care infrastructure anywhere. It is inevitable for many parents to be working while trying to care for young children. But we do a lot more on our phones than work. It’s where we socialize and stay in touch, and the inflated amount of time we spend texting alone is a monopolizing factor. Is it possible that we have reached peak texting? Would it be possible for us to text less? I am nauseated at the thought of texting more — I truly hope we’ve hit our limit, but who am I kidding? We are at least as addicted to our phones as our kids are; we need them in order to relax. And since we don’t feel safe letting our kids wander around the neighborhood freely while we scroll in peace, we keep them inside with us, scrolling.

"It’s not just the parents who can’t afford child care whose children are addicted to their phones by age 10. Many parents of means and privilege rely on phones to keep their kids 'happy' to a degree that is — and here I’m going to break the No. 1 rule of parenting writing and shame people — totally gratuitous and lazy. I would be very interested to read a study of parents explaining why they have their children eat dinner in front of an iPad: For many people it’s exhaustion at the end of a long day, but for others it’s an unwillingness to deal with the challenging task of teaching your kids how to act. People tether their children to iPads so as to streamline and optimize their own lives, to avoid meltdowns and chaos. Everyone can be engaged in a semblance of respectable pantomimed productivity through their individual screens, and peace can reign. No messes, no fighting, no whining."

Full article:
https://www.thecut.com/article/children-teen-smartphone-addiction-what-to-do.html

#Internet #InternetCulture #MentalHealth #MentalWellbeing #Teenagers #Parenting #MeaningfulConnections #TechAddiction
#SmartPhones are #DumbingUsDown
#MoreGreenTimeLessScreenTime

The teen '#Luddites' rethinking how they use tech ahead of #Australia's under 16's #SocialMediaBan

By Lucia Stein and Fiona Pepper for Brain Rot

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-09/luddites-phone-free-australia-teen-social-media-ban/105343034

#TheLudditeClub #LudditeClub #Internet #InternetCulture #MentalHealth #MentalWellbeing #Teenagers #Parenting #Luddites #JoinTheLudditeClub #MeaningfulConnections #ReadBooks #CreateArt #WriteBadPoetry #BePresent #TechAddiction
#SmartPhones are #DumbingUsDown
#MoreGreenTimeLessScreenTime

The teen '#Luddites' rethinking how they use tech ahead of #Australia's under 16's #SocialMediaBan

By Lucia Stein and Fiona Pepper for Brain Rot

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-09/luddites-phone-free-australia-teen-social-media-ban/105343034

#TheLudditeClub #LudditeClub #Internet #InternetCulture #MentalHealth #MentalWellbeing #Teenagers #Parenting #Luddites #JoinTheLudditeClub #MeaningfulConnections #ReadBooks #CreateArt #WriteBadPoetry #BePresent #TechAddiction
#SmartPhones are #DumbingUsDown
#MoreGreenTimeLessScreenTime

The teen '#Luddites' rethinking how they use tech ahead of #Australia's under 16's #SocialMediaBan

By Lucia Stein and Fiona Pepper for Brain Rot

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-09/luddites-phone-free-australia-teen-social-media-ban/105343034

#TheLudditeClub #LudditeClub #Internet #InternetCulture #MentalHealth #MentalWellbeing #Teenagers #Parenting #Luddites #JoinTheLudditeClub #MeaningfulConnections #ReadBooks #CreateArt #WriteBadPoetry #BePresent #TechAddiction
#SmartPhones are #DumbingUsDown
#MoreGreenTimeLessScreenTime

The teen '#Luddites' rethinking how they use tech ahead of #Australia's under 16's #SocialMediaBan

By Lucia Stein and Fiona Pepper for Brain Rot

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-09/luddites-phone-free-australia-teen-social-media-ban/105343034

#TheLudditeClub #LudditeClub #Internet #InternetCulture #MentalHealth #MentalWellbeing #Teenagers #Parenting #Luddites #JoinTheLudditeClub #MeaningfulConnections #ReadBooks #CreateArt #WriteBadPoetry #BePresent #TechAddiction
#SmartPhones are #DumbingUsDown
#MoreGreenTimeLessScreenTime

The teen '#Luddites' rethinking how they use tech ahead of #Australia's under 16's #SocialMediaBan

By Lucia Stein and Fiona Pepper for Brain Rot

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-09/luddites-phone-free-australia-teen-social-media-ban/105343034

#TheLudditeClub #LudditeClub #Internet #InternetCulture #MentalHealth #MentalWellbeing #Teenagers #Parenting #Luddites #JoinTheLudditeClub #MeaningfulConnections #ReadBooks #CreateArt #WriteBadPoetry #BePresent #TechAddiction
#SmartPhones are #DumbingUsDown
#MoreGreenTimeLessScreenTime

Against #AILiteracy: have we actually found a way to #ReverseLearning?

Miriam Reynoldson
Apr 19, 2025

"So let’s get one thing out of the way: I think '#AI literacy' is a dangerous device of neoliberal education and it deserves to be dismissed out of hand.

"I don’t like that declaring this will immediately turn off half my audience, but I think it’s only fair to say it up front.

"This has a lot to do with my feelings about generative AI technologies, their developers, their #BloodDiamond genesis, and their ugly consequences for those who use them and those who are impacted by their use.

But it has a lot more to do with what literacy is."

Read more:
https://themindfile.substack.com/p/against-ai-literacy-have-we-actually

#AIColonialism #AISucks #HumanCreativity #NoNukesForAI #WaterIsLife #DumbingUsDown #NoAI #Enshittification #AIPollution #NoisePollution #DataCenters #Terminator #Skynet

“Empire of #AI”: #KarenHao on How AI Is Threatening #Democracy & Creating a New #Colonial World

June 04, 2025 via @DemocracyNow_Headlines_rss

"The new book #EmpireOfAI by longtime technology reporter Karen Hao unveils the accruing political and economic power of AI companies — especially Sam Altman’s OpenAI. Her reporting uncovered the #exploitation of #workers in #Kenya, attempts to take massive amounts of freshwater from communities in #Chile, along with numerous accounts of the technology’s detrimental impact on the environment. 'This is an extraordinary type of AI development that is causing a lot of #social, #labor and #environmental harms,' says Hao."

Read / listen / watch:
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/6/4/karen_hao_empire_of_ai

#AIColonialism #AISucks #HumanCreativity #NoNukesForAI #WaterIsLife #DumbingUsDown #NoAI #Enshittification #AIPollution #NoisePollution #DataCenters #Terminator #Skynet

@ngate #FreeEducationForAll #DumbingUsDown #FreeCollege #Educate #CriticalThinking

#StudentLoans in default to be referred to #DebtCollection, #EducationDepartment says

By ANNIE MA, April 21, 2025

WASHINGTON (AP) — "The Education Department will begin collection next month on student loans that are in default, including the garnishing of wages for potentially millions of borrowers, officials said Monday.

"Currently, roughly 5.3 million borrowers are in default on their federal student loans.

"The Trump administration ’s announcement marks an end to a period of leniency that began during the COVID-19 pandemic. No federal student loans have been referred for collection since March 2020, including those in default. Under President Joe Biden, the Education Department tried multiple times to give broad forgiveness of student loans, only to be stopped by courts.

" 'American taxpayers will no longer be forced to serve as collateral for irresponsible student loan policies,' #EducationSecretary #LindaMcMahon said.

"Beginning May 5, the department will begin involuntary collection through the Treasury Department’s offset program, which withholds government payments — including tax refunds, federal salaries and other benefits — from people with past-due debts to the government. After a 30-day notice, the department also will begin garnishing wages for borrowers in default.

"The decision to send debt to collections drew criticism from advocates, who said borrowers had experienced whiplash and confusion with the changing student loan policies between the Biden and Trump administrations."

Source:
https://apnews.com/article/student-loan-debt-default-collection-fa6498bf519e0d50f2cd80166faef32a

#CharacteristicsOfFascism #Education #DumbingUsDown #Debt #LoanForgiveness for #TheRich, but not #Students!

#StudentLoans in default to be referred to #DebtCollection, #EducationDepartment says

By ANNIE MA, April 21, 2025

WASHINGTON (AP) — "The Education Department will begin collection next month on student loans that are in default, including the garnishing of wages for potentially millions of borrowers, officials said Monday.

"Currently, roughly 5.3 million borrowers are in default on their federal student loans.

"The Trump administration ’s announcement marks an end to a period of leniency that began during the COVID-19 pandemic. No federal student loans have been referred for collection since March 2020, including those in default. Under President Joe Biden, the Education Department tried multiple times to give broad forgiveness of student loans, only to be stopped by courts.

" 'American taxpayers will no longer be forced to serve as collateral for irresponsible student loan policies,' #EducationSecretary #LindaMcMahon said.

"Beginning May 5, the department will begin involuntary collection through the Treasury Department’s offset program, which withholds government payments — including tax refunds, federal salaries and other benefits — from people with past-due debts to the government. After a 30-day notice, the department also will begin garnishing wages for borrowers in default.

"The decision to send debt to collections drew criticism from advocates, who said borrowers had experienced whiplash and confusion with the changing student loan policies between the Biden and Trump administrations."

Source:
https://apnews.com/article/student-loan-debt-default-collection-fa6498bf519e0d50f2cd80166faef32a

#CharacteristicsOfFascism #Education #DumbingUsDown #Debt #LoanForgiveness for #TheRich, but not #Students!

#StudentLoans in default to be referred to #DebtCollection, #EducationDepartment says

By ANNIE MA, April 21, 2025

WASHINGTON (AP) — "The Education Department will begin collection next month on student loans that are in default, including the garnishing of wages for potentially millions of borrowers, officials said Monday.

"Currently, roughly 5.3 million borrowers are in default on their federal student loans.

"The Trump administration ’s announcement marks an end to a period of leniency that began during the COVID-19 pandemic. No federal student loans have been referred for collection since March 2020, including those in default. Under President Joe Biden, the Education Department tried multiple times to give broad forgiveness of student loans, only to be stopped by courts.

" 'American taxpayers will no longer be forced to serve as collateral for irresponsible student loan policies,' #EducationSecretary #LindaMcMahon said.

"Beginning May 5, the department will begin involuntary collection through the Treasury Department’s offset program, which withholds government payments — including tax refunds, federal salaries and other benefits — from people with past-due debts to the government. After a 30-day notice, the department also will begin garnishing wages for borrowers in default.

"The decision to send debt to collections drew criticism from advocates, who said borrowers had experienced whiplash and confusion with the changing student loan policies between the Biden and Trump administrations."

Source:
https://apnews.com/article/student-loan-debt-default-collection-fa6498bf519e0d50f2cd80166faef32a

#CharacteristicsOfFascism #Education #DumbingUsDown #Debt #LoanForgiveness for #TheRich, but not #Students!

#StudentLoans in default to be referred to #DebtCollection, #EducationDepartment says

By ANNIE MA, April 21, 2025

WASHINGTON (AP) — "The Education Department will begin collection next month on student loans that are in default, including the garnishing of wages for potentially millions of borrowers, officials said Monday.

"Currently, roughly 5.3 million borrowers are in default on their federal student loans.

"The Trump administration ’s announcement marks an end to a period of leniency that began during the COVID-19 pandemic. No federal student loans have been referred for collection since March 2020, including those in default. Under President Joe Biden, the Education Department tried multiple times to give broad forgiveness of student loans, only to be stopped by courts.

" 'American taxpayers will no longer be forced to serve as collateral for irresponsible student loan policies,' #EducationSecretary #LindaMcMahon said.

"Beginning May 5, the department will begin involuntary collection through the Treasury Department’s offset program, which withholds government payments — including tax refunds, federal salaries and other benefits — from people with past-due debts to the government. After a 30-day notice, the department also will begin garnishing wages for borrowers in default.

"The decision to send debt to collections drew criticism from advocates, who said borrowers had experienced whiplash and confusion with the changing student loan policies between the Biden and Trump administrations."

Source:
https://apnews.com/article/student-loan-debt-default-collection-fa6498bf519e0d50f2cd80166faef32a

#CharacteristicsOfFascism #Education #DumbingUsDown #Debt #LoanForgiveness for #TheRich, but not #Students!

#StudentLoans in default to be referred to #DebtCollection, #EducationDepartment says

By ANNIE MA, April 21, 2025

WASHINGTON (AP) — "The Education Department will begin collection next month on student loans that are in default, including the garnishing of wages for potentially millions of borrowers, officials said Monday.

"Currently, roughly 5.3 million borrowers are in default on their federal student loans.

"The Trump administration ’s announcement marks an end to a period of leniency that began during the COVID-19 pandemic. No federal student loans have been referred for collection since March 2020, including those in default. Under President Joe Biden, the Education Department tried multiple times to give broad forgiveness of student loans, only to be stopped by courts.

" 'American taxpayers will no longer be forced to serve as collateral for irresponsible student loan policies,' #EducationSecretary #LindaMcMahon said.

"Beginning May 5, the department will begin involuntary collection through the Treasury Department’s offset program, which withholds government payments — including tax refunds, federal salaries and other benefits — from people with past-due debts to the government. After a 30-day notice, the department also will begin garnishing wages for borrowers in default.

"The decision to send debt to collections drew criticism from advocates, who said borrowers had experienced whiplash and confusion with the changing student loan policies between the Biden and Trump administrations."

Source:
https://apnews.com/article/student-loan-debt-default-collection-fa6498bf519e0d50f2cd80166faef32a

#CharacteristicsOfFascism #Education #DumbingUsDown #Debt #LoanForgiveness for #TheRich, but not #Students!

Like I said before, #Trump will use ANY excuse to withhold funding. And he has NOT restored #ColumbiaUniversity's funding yet, despite their caving to the #BullyInChief's demands! Today, it's #TransgenderAthletes and #FreePalestine #Protestors. Tomorrow it will be...? The capitulation has to stop NOW!

#Academia Confronts a Watershed Moment at Columbia, and the Right Revels

Threatened with losing $400 million in federal funding, the university agreed to overhaul its protest policies and security practices.

"The end is not clear. Columbia’s moves on Friday — revealed in a letter to the campus from the interim president, Dr. Katrina A. Armstrong — were essentially an opening bid in negotiations with the federal government to let the $400 million flow again. But the Trump administration has not publicly said what other concessions it might seek from Columbia or the dozens of other universities, from Hawaii to Harvard, that it has started to scrutinize since taking power on Jan. 20."

by Troy Closson, Alan Blinder and Katherine Rosman, March 22, 2025

"Many professors saw it as surrender, a reward to the Trump administration’s heavy hand. Conservative critics of academia celebrated it as an overdue, righteous reset by an Ivy League university.

"Columbia University’s concession on Friday to a roster of government demands as it sought to restore about $400 million in federal funding is being widely viewed as a watershed in Washington’s relationships with the nation’s colleges.

"By design, the consequences will be felt immediately on Columbia’s campus, where, for example, some security personnel will soon have arrest powers and an academic department that had drawn conservative scrutiny is expected to face stringent oversight. But they also stand to shape colleges far from Manhattan.

"'Columbia is folding and the other universities will follow suit,' Christopher Rufo, an activist and senior fellow at the #ManhattanInstitute, a conservative think tank, wrote on social media after the university’s announcement on Friday."

[...]

"Many worry that the administration’s pursuit of Columbia was a test drive — a way to gauge public reaction, assess the prospects of legal pushback and develop a precedent. On Wednesday, the administration seemed to bring another test case, saying it would withhold about $175 million from Penn because the university had allowed an openly transgender woman on its women’s swim team in 2022."

Read more:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/22/nyregion/columbia-trump-concessions-watershed.html

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/xQeLn
#CharacteristicsOfFascism #USPol #HigherEducation #DumbingUsDown

#Trump demands unprecedented control at #ColumbiaUniversity, alarming scholars and speech groups

By COLLIN BINKLEY and JAKE OFFENHARTZ
Updated 7:52 PM EDT, March 14, 2025

NEW YORK (AP) — "The Trump administration brushed aside decades of precedent when it ordered Columbia University to oust the leadership of an academic department, a demand seen as a direct attack on academic freedom and a warning of what’s to come for other colleges facing federal scrutiny.

"Federal officials told the university it must immediately place its #MiddleEasternStudies, #SouthAsianStudies, and #AfricanStudies Department under 'academic receivership for a minimum of five years.' The demand was among several described as conditions for receiving federal funding, including $400 million already pulled over allegations of #antisemitism.

"Across #academia, it was seen as a stunning intrusion.

"'It’s an escalation of a kind that is unheard of,' said Joan Scott, a historian and member of the academic freedom committee of the American Association of University Professors [#AAUP]. 'Even during the #McCarthy period in the United States, this was not done.'"

https://apnews.com/article/columbia-university-mahmoud-khalil-ice-arrests-1921e26f6b5a8585ad5cbda790846324
#CharacteristicsOfFascism #USPol #Censorship #DumbingUsDown #Authoritarianism #SilencingDissent #AcademicFreedom #Fascism

I imagine that #WomensStudies, #GenderStudies, #NativeAmericanStudies, and other history / anthropology studies will be next on the chopping block. #BlackHistory already is!

New York's governor orders college to remove #PalestinianStudies job listing

February 28, 2025

"The job posting at Hunter College had called for a historian 'who takes a critical lens to issues pertaining to Palestine including but not limited to #SettlerColonialism, #genocide, #HumanRights, #apartheid, #migration, #climate and #infrastructure devastation, health, race, #gender, and sexuality,' according to screenshots published by the New York Post, which first reported the job announcement."

https://apnews.com/article/hochul-palestinian-studies-genocide-cuny-hunter-04f5e9bf1b718bf0441f9b6cde260141
#Fascism #CharacteristicsOfFascism #SignsOfFascism #Resist #ResistFascism #Censorship #Universities #HigherEducation #DumbingUsDown #DenyingHistory #DenyingReality

#CharacteristicsOfFascism

11. Disdain for #Intellectuals and the #Arts
"#Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to #HigherEducation and #academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other #academics to be censored or even arrested. #FreeExpression in the arts is openly attacked, and governments often refuse to fund the arts."

Fascism, Anyone? by Lawrence W. Britt published in 2003 by Free Inquiry magazine.

https://voxpopulisphere.com/2017/08/23/lawrence-britt-14-characteristics-of-fascism/
#USPol #DepartmentOfEducation #DEI #DumbingUsDown

The only thing that made me get rid of my dumbphone is that it wasn't going to work after 3G was shut down. I may switch back to one again...

The #Dumbphone Boom Is Real

A burgeoning cottage industry caters to beleaguered #smartphone users desperate to escape their screens.

By Kyle Chayka
April 10, 2024

"Will Stults spent too much time on his iPhone, doom-scrolling the site formerly known as Twitter and tweeting angrily at Elon Musk as if the billionaire would actually notice. Stults’s partner, Daisy Krigbaum, was addicted to Pinterest and YouTube, bingeing videos on her iPhone before going to sleep. Two years ago, they both tried Apple’s Screen Time restriction tool and found it too easy to disable, so the pair decided to trade out their iPhones for more low-tech devices. They’d heard about so-called dumbphones, which lacked the kinds of bells and whistles—a high-resolution screen, an app store, a video camera—that made smartphones so addictive. But they found the process of acquiring one hard to navigate.

"'The information on it was kind of disparate and hard to get to. A lot of people who know the most about dumbphones spend the least time online,' Krigbaum said. A certain irony presented itself: figuring out a way to be less online required aggressive online digging."

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/infinite-scroll/the-dumbphone-boom-is-real?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us

#SmartphoneAddiction #ScreenAddiction #DumbingUsDown