It is as if another dimension of class division is emerging. Based on brain power and ability to orient oneself. Those who allow themselves to be manipulated (whether by the mainstream, the alternative or something else entirely) and against them those who are equipped with the ability to understand and possibly influence things.
Of course, everyone has the feeling that they are the ones who understand everything and that they are not manipulated at all, but this feeling doesn’t matter much.
What is the emerging difference? On the one hand, those who now spend a lot of time on their cell phones in their teenage years and approach education with a “I only learn what I can practically apply.” Because that means, among other things, that you can’t learn and understand more complex things. Because to understand the complex ones, you have to understand things a little less complex, and to understand them even less complex… and those who are stuck on something not being practical enough to use never get to the really hard stuff.
Those who study, on the other hand, read paper books and learn impractical things. They may be wasting time that could be spent on, say, watching soap operas or making money. But in turn, they gain a more efficient brain and the ability to understand deeper connections.
It turns out it’s largely down to genes anyway. But genes and all sorts of innate tendencies and brain power and IQ, it doesn’t make any immutable determination of what your life will be like.