Apparently, social media is worse than the 100 years of ambient lead everywhere.

the National Endowment for the Arts found that just 37.6 percent of Americans said they’d read a novel or short story in the year prior — a share down from 41.5 percent in 2017 and 45.2 percent in 2012.

That’s quite a drop. I def notice that reading is very polarized now, someone either reads like 30 or more books a year, or they read nothing.

The plummeting literacy rates is pretty scary too. Literally the richest country in world history and their literacy rates are worse than many dirt-poor countries, and getting worse.

My wild guess: It’s the increasing atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide.

It’s a well-known effect that increasing CO2 levels makes people dumber when it goes above 1000 ppm. When atmospheric CO2 goes from 200 ppm (last century) to 400 ppm (the current state) indoor CO2 levels can reach that 1000 ppm state that much quicker.

So yeah: Yet another reason to stop using fossil fuels.

This is strangely comforting. I mean, the alternative was that there was something specifically wrong with me and my perception.

Well, duh.