"Social" media has been the biggest blow to original, spontaneous thinking. Now they even reply to memes with memes. At least with the original 'real time' formats such as IRC, one had to be on their toes with a bit of wit from the hip, and not being totally illiterate without causing a glitch in the flow. Remember, "brb?"
The entire human electronic thought process today is obviously held up by wiki and google crutches. Intelligence in a can, with no penalty for what amounts to blatant and perpetual plagiarism of someone else's thoughts.
I quit using FB when I could not get any unique responses from people I know. It was as if they were afraid to either expose their illiteracy, or daring to get caught expressing an opinion that was less than popular.
Forums are yet another. One in particular, that has taken on a political format that is so utterly predictable, you can read the days headlines and predict what will be said by who and how they will say it. What essentially amounts to rearranged text of the popular sources opinions taken as their own. And then they use this faked intelligence in which to badger and ridicule others.
I have FB, but I mostly glance at the PM feature for msgs from my sons. I admit I am a little crude, academically speaking, but I rarely get involved in topics too far beyond my fields of knowledge.
