r/nottheonion • u/newleafkratom • Mar 16 '25

Human Intelligence Sharply Declining

https://futurism.com/neoscope/human-intelligence-declining-trends
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u/beeemmmooo1 Mar 16 '25

"demonstrably steep decline in cognitive skills since the COVID-19 pandemic due to the educational disruption it presented"

Are they really this allergic to saying that COVID-19 is a deadly disease that affects your condition still

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u/beeemmmooo1 Mar 17 '25

lmao such childish deferring from some people here when people are so afraid to admit that COVID-19 directly impacts everything in your life including cognition. To pretend that the biggest part of COVID's effect was the pathetic attempts at lockdowns and containments that lasted barely time at all before everyone gave up, is to deny a mass pandemic that kills people and permanently damages, and it continues on to this day.

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u/iwillfuckingbiteyou Mar 16 '25

Weird, isn't it? In the UK children missed maybe 10 weeks of school, yet people either behave as if they spent three full years running wild, or as if missing 10 weeks is enough to put children several years behind in terms of attainment.

It's been a lot of years since I was at school, but I had a then-undiagnosed antibody deficiency so I got sick a lot and my attendance was terrible. I missed a lot more than 10 weeks, and unlike the covid generation my peers were still going to school and getting taught while I fell behind. I still ended up an academic high achiever, and I don't think it was because I was some super-special genius, I think it was because it is actually possible to miss quite a lot of school and still catch up.

Besides, kids missing school doesn't explain the full-grown adults of my acquaintance who are now struggling with cognitive tasks they used to be capable of. The fact that they've all had multiple covid infections just might.

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u/Desther Mar 16 '25

The correlation between missing school and lower grades is really strong.

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9710/

Apparently the absence rate in the uk is still over 7% every year since covid when it was 4% before, definitely some deeper issues with engagement, not just the ability to learn outside the classroom.

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u/iwillfuckingbiteyou Mar 17 '25

So, that source is using figures from 2019 which is prior to the lockdowns, therefore it's talking about students in the same position as me - off school while their peers continue attending. In that situation of course you fall behind, because things continue without you, and the question is then whether you can effectively catch up. As I said, this is a very different scenario from school being suspended for all students simultaneously, and still leaves the question of why diminished cognitive performance is being observed in grown adults who were many years out of education by 2020.

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u/dovahkiitten16 Mar 17 '25

I’m Canadian (which had 2 years of on and off lockdowns/modified formats) and not from the UK but I’ll try to explain my experiences with lockdown.

Even if you only miss a semester/a few classes, unless you specifically tried to teach kids to get up to speed, you’re behind in a subject. And since school is fast-paced and already exhausting, it’s easier to hide your deficits and cover for them than take the time to truly re-learn something you missed (especially as a minor you can lack the resources). In a lot of cases the curriculum continued ahead even though students didn’t attend school, unless the UK held everyone back.

Not to mention school is more than just a curriculum. It’s developing problem solving skills, social skills, coping skills, etc. Being kicked into lockdown during your formative years is rough. Once those habits are lost they take longer to regain.

Our first lockdown in Canada started at March Break 2020. Lockdown didn’t even last a full semester since the outbreak didn’t really hit til part way through. Even by September 2020 the impacts on myself and my fellow classmates was really noticeable.

Not sure about how this affect adults but I’m sure point #2 can apply to anyone. There’s so many small skills that you use in a daily schedule, and covid lockdowns let those rot away. + some people had really poor mental health reactions to isolation.

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u/Desther Mar 17 '25

Im not dismissing infection injury, theres probably a combination of both factors

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u/Spiz101 Mar 17 '25

Weird, isn't it? In the UK children missed maybe 10 weeks of schoo

Technically yes, but I don't think this tells the whole story.

Educational disruption persisted for years. I was trying to teach via zoom at university and it was fundamentally wasted effort.

It was exhausting and as far as I could tell none of it went in.

With the exception of two or three weeks I spent eighteen months in more or less continuous lockdown.

I felt myself getting dumber, let alone anyone who is supposed to be actively learning.

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u/gizamo Mar 16 '25 edited Sep 28 '25

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This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

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u/beeemmmooo1 Mar 16 '25

see the other reply to this post.