How AI is making us dumber-Article in MidDay
- Thought Matters
- Jul 1
- 3 min read
🧠 How Is AI making us dumber?
On this Doctor’s Day, quoted in a thought-provoking piece by Anindita Paul in Midday, exploring how AI is affecting how we think, create and memorize.
From deep thinking to cognitive restructuring, from instant gratification to not knowing how to write a heartfelt letter—are we outsourcing too much to our screens? Or can we learn to use AI *judiciously*, as a support system—not a substitute?
Let’s strike that balance.
📖 Read the full article and reflect.
An expensive shortcut
“Imagine that you’re thinking of a song. Perhaps you remember the actors dancing, or you remember the choreography. And you rack your brains to remember the lyrics. Today, most people would use Google or AI to fill in the gaps in their memory. They would instinctively reach for these tools to solve the problem. Now, imagine giving the thought more time. Maybe you sleep on it. Or you tuck it away in the back of your mind and move onto other things. And it eventually comes to you. Each time your brain works on solving such problems, it strengthens a neural pathway. It improves your long-term memory retention and teaches you better retrieval — all important parts of memory,” explains Dr Nahid Dave, a psychiatrist at Thought Matters.
She adds that the dopamine release that accompanies problem-solving can further aid learning. Replacing this process with digital tools or AI can impair memory retention and retrieval, while also increasing dependency as people will no longer want to make the effort.AI can also inhibit cognitive restructuring, Dr Dave warns: “When the conscious mind is involved in solving a problem, it can sometimes become fixated and stagnated. When you distract your conscious into doing some other activity, your unconscious is still solving the problem and doing so with no stress. You can have that Eureka moment and arrive at the answer without any stress. Replacing this process with AI denies our brains the ability to perform these important functions.”
The third red flag is the instant gratification that AI offers. “The minute you have a problem, you can ask AI, and you have all the answers. The ability to be creative, to make your working memory stronger has reduced because instead of harnessing it, turn to AI to solve the problem for you, she says.
Referring to Agarkar’s example of writing an essay, she adds: “People may ask why they should learn to write a letter, for example, when you can just get a ready-made letter about anything on AI? The point is that you will never know whether it’s good or bad. And you will never know how to improve it if you’ve not written it yourself.”
A fine balance
Writing off all AI as detrimental, or asking your kids to swear off it altogether is neither realistic nor practical, agree Agarkar and Dr Dave. Both, however, suggest a more controlled approach. “AI can be a very good support system; but it cannot and should not replace your curiosity, exploration and creativity. So, allowing yourself the time to deep-think and retrieve memories, and not instantly gratifying yourself is important,” says Dr Dave.Dr Dave recommends that parents encourage both boredom and imaginative play with no structure, where children can innovate games: “Puzzles and storytelling can improve cognitive abilities. In terms of homework, AI should not be the first resort but can be used to verify and enhance.”
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