Article Review: “Thinking is Becoming a Luxury Good”

Article: Thinking is Becoming a Luxury Good by Mary Harrington, New York Times Opinion (Pay-wall)

Note: I want to do this series so that I can better engage with readings I find that peak my interest in a purposeful way. I think it hits because I believe in some sense that I am creating a bit of writing that someone else could view. Furthermore, they say one of the best methods of learning something yourself is to teach it to somebody else. It’s hard to fake know something, it’s even harder to fake teach something.

In this post I’ll be free-writing about this article I found when scrolling on instagram (keep this in mind, it’ll be important later). The article speaks about how we have come to live in a “post-literate” culture in which people are mindlessly consumed by their various forms of technology (I’m sure you might understand what has driven me to start writing these). The rise of these devices has been correlated with a decline in metrics associated with human intelligence such as literacy rates, ability in writing and math skills and an increase in ADHD diagnoses. Harrington conveys the concept that the constant barrage of short-form content that we experience constantly in 2025 is analogous to junk food consumption. Both are way too easy to consume, have been shown to be addictive and can lead to long-term health risks. Additionally it should be noted that both are run by trillion-dollar industries; one that benefits from the attention of your brain, the other the attention of your stomach. While I’m personally a bit flattered that the attention of my brain and belly are of such high perceived value, I shudder at the pure manpower that is likely devoted to obtaining it and that of everyone else.

The author also presents the theory that higher consumption of this bite-sized, fast-food like technology is attributed to those in lower socioeconomic classes. People across the world in higher economic and social classes make sure that their children put in the work to learn skills such as long-form literacy which is “not inate, but learned.” Harrington goes on to claim that research shows the benefits of high ability in literacy:

“[Literacy] rewires our brains, increases vocabulary, shifting brain activity toward the analytic left hemisphere and honing our capacity for concentration, linear reasoning and deep thought…The presence of these traits at scale contributed to the emergence of free speech, modern science and liberal democracy, among other things.”

Apparently, digital reading is a prime nesting ground for distraction; most social media platforms (and every other website) are designed to be addictive and hold your attention with tricks that snatch at your last remaining dopamine cells. I personally feel the effect of this, how when you’re on social media, it's rare that you truly sit with a sustained thought. You rarely broaden the idea that is proposed to you; instead going for the next 6 second Instagram Reel or twitter meme. This allows for exposure to an unbelievably wide array of content, yet not much depth for each one. This is partially because Social Media and the internet overall is a deep sea of all the information and entertainment that anyone could ever want. How does one decide how to spend their time? Perhaps this video won’t do enough to optimize my time? How should I spend my next 6 seconds?

And with artificial intelligence it seems it’s almost certainly guaranteed to get worse before it gets better. Now content creators that spent several minutes making a video or message now use only seconds with A.I.. I’ve heard theories that soon we will be engulfed on the internet with a never-ending vortex of memes, propaganda and advertisements. Ever heard a better argument for Ludditism? I sure haven’t.

So what ever happened to predictability? The milkman. The paperboy? The evening T.V.? I know how this whole post sounds. (BOOMER! I hear you say through the screen). All I’m highlighting is that we lost have lost the vision that early Steve Jobs Silicon Valley pushed; technology is here to solve the terrible problems we have in society - not to please the shareholders. Whenever Elon Musk throws up his hands and says “Why don’t people trust me?” For me, it’s because these people like him and the mega-corps they represent have not fulfilled that original flagship idea that made Jobs and others so popular. But I digress…

The point of this article is that once again in America, low-income children are at risk. A higher percentage of these children grow up consuming this fast-form content, they lose the ability to develop important mental skills and the deficit between rich and poor becomes greater and greater. It is more obvious than ever that TikTok, Shorts, Reels, whatever Facebook has, all exist to bring docility to the masses- and I think I’m only being a little bit too alarmist when I say that.

Harrington writes:

“On the one hand, a relatively small group of people will retain, and intentionally develop, the capacity for concentration and long-form reasoning. On the other, a larger general population will be effectively post-literate — with all the consequences this implies for cognitive clarity.”

“What will happen if this becomes fully realized? An electorate that has lost the capacity for long-form thought will be more tribal, less rational, largely uninterested in facts or even matters of historical record, moved more by vibes than cogent argument and open to fantastical ideas and bizarre conspiracy theories. If that sounds familiar, it may be a sign of how far down this path the West has already traveled.”

Currently our system doesn’t work. These companies are incentivized to squeeze every drop of attention out of these kids and these kids are going to take the path of least resistance. They are going to choose entertainment in wake of any trigger. Happy? You could be happier watching TikTok. Sad? TikTok will make you feel better. Insecure? There’s people like you on TikTok. Whole communities where people that are caught up on the same personal aspect as you are can marinate in their obsession. The only way forward, to me, is regulation of these systems. I think when it comes to politics to an extent, you’re just choosing the least bad cup of posion, but this seems pretty clear cut to me.

So, dear reader, what path will you choose? Will you stop reading this and go relax and watch a couple thousand YouTube Shorts? Will you scroll on reddit for a few hours? or will you challenge yourself with a book or article? Rewire some circuitry? To be honest, I’ll probably do a bit of both.