Are We Losing The Ability to Learn?

Are We Losing The Ability to Learn?

From The Long & Thick Podcast by longandthickpod

June 5, 2026 · 40 min · Episode 65

About this episode

This episode explores the impact of instant access to information on our ability to learn and think critically.

Are We Losing the Ability to Learn? There's a question we keep dancing around in a world built on instant access and instant convenience: are we actually getting smarter, or are we just getting better at looking things up? In this episode, we explore one of the most uncomfortable realities we are currently facing. Are the tools designed to make us more capable slowly eroding the cognitive muscles that made us capable in the first place? We break down how convenience and on-demand information have begun to reduce our tolerance for mental friction. The discomfort that is often the birthplace of real thinking, real problem-solving, and real learning. We talk about boredom and how we need to embrace it. The idle mind is where creativity and insight live, and we are actively avoiding it. We also get into the Dunning-Kruger effect. When people have surface-level access to information without the depth that builds genuine understanding, overconfidence grabs you by the throat. We discuss why we think it's driving real division between people who think they know and people who actually do. (hello grifters) And because we're not in the business of just pointing at problems, we close out…

Topics covered

  • learning
  • cognitive skills
  • technology impact
  • mental friction
  • boredom
  • creativity
  • information access

Keywords

  • learning
  • cognitive decline
  • Dunning-Kruger effect
  • mental friction
  • boredom
  • technology use
  • creativity

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Dunning-Kruger effect

More episodes of The Long & Thick Podcast

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The Long & Thick Podcast podcast page.