Is Technology Dumbing You Down – Part one is available to read here.
This two part Café Reflection encourages you think about whether you are using technology as a tool, or letting it take over your thinking, and your life.
As well as being a creative person, I am also a very technology savvy person. And while I love technology, I have made considerable effort to ensure it is not invasive, or allowing it to take over my business and my life.
So this second part of this “Is Technology Dumbing You Down” looks at some of the more dystopian aspects of the technology people are rushing to use because marketing and propaganda is telling them it’s going to make their life easier. Plus they are reassured that the current trend of SMART technology, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, and cloud technology is safe, effective, and good for them.
In this article:
- Developing Writing Skills vs Using Large Language Models
- Human Intelligence vs Artificial Intelligence
- Smart vs SMART / Internet of Things (IoT) / Cloud
- The Loss of Critical Thinking and Master Craftsman Skills
Firstly, welcome to my new readers and subscribers. I hope you enjoy this Café Reflection. Generally I try to handwrite the first draft in a café, as this gives me some time out in a third space to sit and reflect, as well as experience and observe a small slice of life (often with a small slice of something yummy).
I also encourage you to treat yourself to your favourite beverage and something yummy to eat when you read my reflections, as they are often long.
This Café Reflection was sponsored by RK – thanks so much for the coffee and cake shout RK :-). I chose Terra Viva Café, and the baked banoffee cheesecake, with a cappuccino (see above photo). One thing I like about this place is that it is part of the garden centre. So after writing, I went for a wander to get inspiration for my garden.
If you would like to sponsor a Café Reflection by shouting me a coffee, you can do so here. Sponsorship, along with paid subscriptions, helps me to do my bit with keeping the economy growing. Note: This article also contains an affiliate link for Grammarly Premium. Thanks for your support!
Developing Writing Skills vs Using Large Language Models
The Benefits of Developing Writing Skills
Recent research indicates that writing by hand (especially in cursive) enhances your brain connectivity, learning and memory. Holding a pen in your hand, and using it to form characters and drawings on a physical piece of paper is very much a sensory experience. The brain / hand connection is intimate, as your thoughts are ejected from your non-conscious mind down through the “diamond pipeline” of your arm, hand, and pen.
In my Writing Diamonds Creation™ Course (the first module of my Diamond Publishing System™) I guide students into their non-conscious mind in the search for their rough writing diamonds. Once in a state of flow, they can eject their valuable gems onto the page via handwriting. We also use other “stream of non-consciousness” creativity techniques to produce original ideas.
This is a great way to develop your writing skills, creative or otherwise. Because when using a keyboard you are simply button pushing, which any programmed automaton or technician can do.
Additionally, dictating into voice-to-text software requires you to self-edit as you go, which is not ideal for the creative process. So while you may be ejecting some good ideas, you unconsciously put pressure on yourself to have these ideas emerge fully formed and sound intelligent.
(In my first bank job, I was employed as the branch typist, which required me to transcribe the manager’s diary notes from his Dictaphone recordings. I also went onto other jobs where transcription typing was part of my daily tasks. As I write this, I’m thinking, I bet this is a dying role, but a quick search online suggests transcription typing is still a very much in-demand skill.)
Consequently, relying on technology tools, whether it’s a keyboard, computer and screen, or dictating to voice-to-text software on your mobile device switches your creativity off and ends up stifling it. However, it does appear a lot of industries are using a mix of technology tools and human transcription services to operate their businesses, which indicates that intelligent humans aren’t ready to fully rely on technology tools.
If you want to read more about the recent study looking at the benefits of handwriting over technological tools then a good summary is available at Psychiatrist.com and the actual study is at ScienceDirect.
What about Large Language Models?
You’ve probably seen a lot of sponsored content online encouraging you to use AI writing tools such as Grammarly, Chat GPT, Grok, and so on. I know of people who are embracing AI to write marketing material, daily content and media for their businesses and even produce entire books. Some go as far to use it to develop their marketing strategy and business plans.
These AI writing tools are better to be referred to as Large Language Models. They are actually machine learning software with artificial neural network nodes. To “learn and grow” they rely on gathering data from the Internet, which includes any third party platforms that have given the software access to their user content.
Image by Susana Cipriano from Pixabay
This means that the content the large language models learn from may be illegally obtained or scraped copyrighted works, or where the originator of the content has not have knowingly given their permission for it to be used. One such example is LibGen, an illegal pirate site that AI companies have copied books from to train their AI systems.
(The outcome of a related court case and judicial decision in June 2025 is reported on here. Judge Chhabria ruled on a similar motion for summary judgment in Kadrey v. Meta on June 25, finding fair use for Meta’s AI training activities.)
Other examples are social networks, cloud based services (including free email services), and other digital sharecropping platforms. When you create a user account, do you read in full their terms of service / end user license agreements? Do you understand what you are agreeing to? Most people don’t.
Hidden in the legalese fine print is wording which gives them license to “store, reproduce, use, publish, and publicly display, modify, and create derivative works of your User Content.” This includes any photos, files and other data you upload, along with communications such as emails, private messages, and so on.
You also unwittingly license them to permit their third party service providers to do the same. Plus there is also a backdoor into their networks and servers for agencies who may be checking up on their users to ensure they are not doing anything illegal.
Basically, there are no guarantees over the security, privacy and intellectual property protection of any content you upload to someone else’s server, regardless of the front facing marketing promises they give you.
Human Intelligence vs Artificial Intelligence
Nothing can replace your human intelligence. However, I’m sure you know the idiom, “use it or lose it.” This is definitely the case when you outsource your thinking, creativity, intellectual work, and more to technology. The less you think, do, create, decide, and so on, the dumber you become.
In the weekly book study group I’m part of, we are studying Dr. Caroline Leaf’s book, Switch on Your Brain: The Key to Peak Happiness, Thinking, and Health. We are currently at Key 5: Catching Your Thoughts. This focuses on the brain activity of your non-conscious mind, and how it increases when you are reflecting, meditating, journal writing, and so on. In these states, you are accessing your human intelligence to think creatively and problem solve. And in doing so, you are also growing your intelligence.
This [disciplined and focused meditation/reflection] means the brain is more active, growing more branches and integrating and linking thoughts, which translates as increased intelligence and wisdom and that wonderful feeling of peace.
—Dr. Caroline Leaf, Switch on Your Brain.
Okay, you could probably argue that the more AI learns, the more intelligent it becomes. But what really is Artificial Intelligence?
According to the IBM website:
Artificial intelligence (AI) is technology that enables computers and machines to simulate human learning, comprehension, problem solving, decision making, creativity and autonomy.
and
…in 2024, most AI researchers and practitioners—and most AI-related headlines—are focused on breakthroughs in generative AI (gen AI), a technology that can create original text, images, video and other content. To fully understand generative AI, it’s important to first understand the technologies on which generative AI tools are built: machine learning (ML) and deep learning.
To be honest, the whole AI topic is probably best done as separate articles. I tend to think of AI as software that reliant on the intelligence of its human programmers and coders. And as we’ve seen with various generative AI released in recent years, it slants towards the programmer’s (or their funder’s) bias. So again, I urge you to use AI as a tool, and not as a replacement for your natural human intelligence.
Smart vs SMART / Internet of Things (IoT) / The Cloud
Are you smart? Or do you rely on SMART technology, all connected to the Internet of Things and the Cloud?
Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay
Again, this topic is probably best for a separate article, so I’m just going to give you definitions, and leave it at that for now. If you want to read more, here’s a good article from Nonowerk.
SMART = Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology.
I probably prefer to use a different acronym (one I’ve created):
DUMB = Dystopian Universal Monitoring Bots
Internet of Things (IoT): refers to a network of physical devices, vehicles, appliances, and other physical objects that are embedded with sensors, software, and network connectivity, allowing them to collect and share data. IBM Definition
SMART devices may be connected through the IoT, but they can also be unconnected, for example, a coffee machine that is able to be programmed to have your coffee ready when you wake up.
And some SMART devices can be remotely controlled and monitored via Bluetooth, LTE, Wi-Fi, and cellular networks.
And lastly, the definition for the cloud:
“The cloud” refers to servers that are accessed over the Internet, and the software and databases that run on those servers. Cloud servers are located in data centers all over the world. By using cloud computing, users and companies do not have to manage physical servers themselves or run software applications on their own machines. Cloudflare definition
I’ve tried to keep this pretty simple, so unless you’re keen to get into the techie stuff, just think of the cloud as putting your data, your content, and even your valuable private information, on someone else’s servers. And once you do that, your data, content, private info, etc. is no longer in your control.
By the way, an IoT doesn’t have to be external, cloud based. They can be internal, onsite and secured through good network management.
Here’s an article by Yogesh Malik which supports my premise that the smart technology is not making humans smarter.
The Loss of Critical Thinking and Master Craftsman Skills
Okay, we’re at the last topic, but if you have been following along so far, it’s pretty clear that when you outsource your research, analysis and decision making to technology, you lose your critical thinking skills. Which is never good.
But also, as technology evolves, it replaces the traditional master craftsman skills which humans have spent a lifetime developing and perfecting. And those traditional skills get lost. Two examples that come to mind are clock making and jewellery manufacture, because those are the industries I grew up in. But I’m sure you can think of plenty more.
The good news is that there is still interest in the traditional skills among the younger generations. But my concern here is that the wealth of knowledge and wisdom the masters have is dying out with them, because much of this hasn’t been preserved. Hopefully I’m wrong!
Anyway, speaking of time, I need to get on with my day (even though we’ve gained an hour thanks to daylight saving ending). Plus my cats are telling me I’ve been doing too much screen time and need to feed them!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. I hope you enjoyed it, along with the beverage and treat you consumed while reading it. If you want to “shout me a coffee” and suggest a topic for me to reflect and write on at a café you can do so here. Every dollar helps support me in my writing, publishing, and mentoring endeavours.
Keep being a human being, doing, and thinking!
Deb x
