I find I’m involved in a combination of doom scrolling and reading through my digital books. They’re not academic in nature but they bring me joy… I also leverage my device for googling the answer to any one of the thousand questions my offspring will ask daily.
I don’t know if the Internet has made folks dumber per se. What we may be experiencing is the visibility of semi anonymous unfiltered thought. I’ve had conversations with individuals online who have made claims that are egregiously incorrect and will defend those claims to the death but when discussed in person, they are amenable to discourse and can change their opinions.
I’m not saying this is true for all cases but I think the is a lot more going on here in our digital age.
Edit: removed an embarrassing typo.
I’m just going to steal the response I read years ago.
“I possess a device, in my pocket, that is capable of accessing the entirety of information known to man. I use it to look at pictures of cats and get into arguments with strangers.”
Whelp, color me embarrassed. Don’t mind me as I go to edit my comment.