Generally speaking technology has for humanity a prosthetic function which allows certain muscles to wither. These may be physical or mental. This speaks against the general understanding of progress in terms of technology. Technology could be considered ras regressive in human development."
This a fascinating point; realize that testosterone levels have been declining in America since the early 1980's, more or less commensurate with the decision by elites to began off-shoring heavier industry, while also raising immigration levels into America, which causes the average person to do less physical labor (immigrants end up doing a lot of the house keeping, grounds keeping, construction work, agriculture work etc., whereas in the 1950's and 60's Americans were more skilled and industrious at doing this work themselves).
Time spent on manual labor, active leisure, performing physical feats to impress friends and lovers, etc. appears to have decreased for the average American since the early 1980's. What's risen dramatically, instead? Time spent watching TV, playing video games, reading/staring at screens for other purposes, staying indoors in general (often for the ostensible purpose of avoiding a crime-ridden outside world).
Jonathan Haidt says that research indicates that people born after 1994 appear to be incredibly soft and sensitive, emotionally speaking, because when they grew up adults often did not allow young children to play and interact without supervision. Normally, kids are supposed to figure out how to handle difficult and complex situations on their own, to some degree. But adults, having been frightened by the media and pop culture that the world is too dangerous for their kids to interact with safely, have attempted over and over again to monitor and regulate the childhood of Millennials and Gen Z. But Haidt says that people born after 1994 are particularly weak because they became teenagers when everyone had smart phones and social media accounts. Girls in particular are struggling with the neverending stream of information available on their phones, which makes them anxious that they aren't as pretty or popular as other people. All the screen time and omnipresent supervision by adults has made it difficult for this youngest generation to develop normal social and coping skills. Haidt likens the emotional sensitivity of the youngest generation to an allergy; what happens to people who aren't exposed to certain substances when they're young? Their bodies freak out due to allergy when they finally are exposed to something years later.
Anyway, several years ago the army began publicly acknowledging that Millennials are far more out of shape and weak than previous generations of youths, which is causing many people to fail basic military tests of physical conditioning. The armed services essentially admitted that America is in a public health crisis WRT obesity and sedentary lifestyles among the young. Of course, these modern trends have also affected older generations, but the difference is that young Boomers were trim and strong, while young Gen X-ers were doing pretty well in the 80's.
10:29 PM
