Morning, people. 29 days to go until April 15.<\/p>\n
Got some bad news. We are, in fact, getting dumber<\/a>:<\/p>\n Though there has been a demonstrably steep decline in cognitive skills since the COVID-19 pandemic due to the educational disruption it presented, these trends have been in evidence since at least the mid-2010s, suggesting that whatever is going on runs much deeper and has lasted far longer than the pandemic.<\/p>\n Obviously, there\u2019s no single answer as to why people seem to be struggling with cognitive skills, but one key indicator is the sharp decline in reading and the world\u2019s changing relationship to the way we consume information and media. In 2022, for example, the National Endowment for the Arts found that just 37.6 percent of Americans said they\u2019d read a novel or short story in the year prior \u2014 a share down from 41.5 percent in 2017 and 45.2 percent in 2012.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n If anyone wanting to exercise their brain is looking for a book to read, check this out. Thanks to the person on r\/accounting who recommended it<\/a>. I\u2019d say I\u2019m enjoying it but \u2018enjoy\u2019 isn\u2019t the right word.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s another recommendation for you:<\/p>\n \n\n
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