Cheer up, we’re not such dumbos

FOR those who fear that society is relentlessly dumbing down, this was the proof: a study that claimed people born after 1991 have, on average, IQs seven points lower than those of the previous generation.

I wouldn’t worry. IQ tests are pretty meaningless as they examine only a very particular way of thinking.

Technological advances over the past 20 years mean that today we use and process information very differently from the way we once did. Take, for example, telephone numbers. Once we knew by heart a lengthy list of landline numbers for friends and family.

Now, few of us even know our partner’s mobile number. But we do know how to use a smartphone or the internet to access that information.

Thus, this one piece of knowledge — how to find the number on your mobile — has replaced multiple pieces of knowledge.

From an evolutionary perspective, this is a big leap forward as it frees us up to use our brains for so much more. (And I don’t mean spending 20 minutes playing Candy Crush!)