Rant mode engaged. I’m a state pencil pusher. I administer benefits for elected officials, their staff, with regular administrative employees. I’m 100% convinced that as a whole, Americans are functionally illiterate. I will spend 30 minutes to an hour crafting an organized email with TL;DR bullet points at the end to have people call me to ask me a question that said email already answered. Bro/sis, did you even attempt to read the words on the page? It’s not an age thing, or an education thing either. It’s old people and young people. It’s elected officials, people with PhDs, masters, and JDs, along with highschool and college graduates. It’s gotten to the point that I will make people pull up the email I sent out to read along while I point out where in the text their questions were already answered. I’m one person doing the work of 3, and god damn I hate doing the same task over and over because people can’t be bothered to fucking read.
Humans run on less power than a fucking light bulb so I’m never surprised. It frustrates me, too. I’m also pretty sure AI is meant to fill in those follow up answers (e.g. find the answer from your text) but it’s just not there yet due to made up nonsense-- and even then it really shouldn’t be needed, especially for well read people.
Personally, my theory is across all groups, not enough Americans get adequate sleep, water, nutrition, and (most importantly) thoughtful quiet time without work demands- including no social media, lol. Overlooking shit, misspeaking, forgetting what you just saw or read, making impulse decisions, being selfish- all symptoms when someone’s needs aren’t met.