It definitely is. I look at younger people today and see a mass of under-educated, over-entitled people who are ill equipped to deal with the travails of the world when unleashed upon it.

One of the things that drives me crazy are the people who refuse to train themselves to remember a 10 digit telephone number - not a series of numbers, just one - for a limited time - like from the kitchen to the front yard. It shows a lack of discipline, and is not a good thing.

When anyone asks the question you do, I am always reminded of the old Russian tale that tells of the servants that were developed for people (the original concept of a robot - the Russian work is robotnik). Several decent sci-fi tales have been loosely based upon it - especially Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot. The machines achieved a level of intelligence while the masters forgot how to control them, and catastrophe ensued.

I disagree - technology may make it easier to not learn these things but critical thinking and reasoning is no longer part of any high school curriculum and only marginally taught at a collegiate level.

If you look at the school curriculum from a century ago, the emphasis was different. Students learned to analyze and evaluate after reading or experimenting. The curriculum in most high schools today is more learning by rote and then regurgitating back so that students learn the answers to the questions and then just fill in the blank. Having observed directly and indirectly, teachers now instruct students with a curriculum designed to pass the test at the end of the year so the school can get its funding. There isn’t time or money to teach critical thought and reasoning - that is left to the parents and if the parents aren’t competent either then it just doesn’t get taught.

As a long term software developer, manager, and writer, I’ve interviewed dozens of people for a variety of roles in our company. The most important skill is imagination followed by critical thinking. Software language and rules can be learned fairly easy but teaching someone to think is nearly impossible without lots of time and effort that I don’t have.

I’ve been a builder all of my life. When I was younger, I often wondered: “why, if we now have so many power tools, can’t you hire a carpenter to do as good a job as a guy 100 years ago could do with a chisel and an axe?”. Well, it took a while to figure out; but it finally hit me that there’s no pride to be gained by letting a machine do your work for you.

In my world, I’m literally surrounded by people who think everything important lies at the business end of a joystick. People who have never used a lawnmower, or would have no clue where to put the detergent in a dishwasher, have somehow ended up running the planet. These are the people who call ME when their toys break. I charge them an arm and a leg. Serves ‘em right!

I feel like people do rely on their technology too much, but it isn’t that difficult to do without it. A map with basic map reading skills easily replaces the GPS, and this thing called a dictionary was used as a spell checker long before computers were around.

I agree with Mr. Hansen about the school curriculum. The idea of “no child left behind’ is creating a whole generation who can regurgitate a great number of facts, but have no skills of logic and reasoning whatsoever. Of course, this could be by design, as big brother likes nothing more that a servile population.