…and that is the best advice any marketing, web design, or (GUI) programmer can ever have. We rant about this philosophy of web darwinism here a lot, and there’s a very large reason why: the Web, like everything else in society, is not raising the intelligence bar.

Instead, we are all plummeting more and more into a dark state of society where the overall lack of intellect makes innovation ignored and the select fewer intellectuals drowned out by the popular majority of the ignorant. This applies to the field of technology as well as most other fields as well.

The Web

The best design that anyone visiting this site can relate to as far as representing this decline in the intellect of the general public is the whole idea of Web 2.0, as sites like Twitter display.

USENET was too “techy”, blogging was too researched and to the point, so micro-blogging comes along and makes you say what you need to say in 140 characters or less. Gone are the researched “Web essays” that tell you everything you need to know about a topic, which could range from a shoe review to how a recent privacy policy change in a major website impacts its users.

Instead, “tweets” (a ridiculous term in and of itself) with 140 characters or less are used to express what you wish the world to know while remaining within everyone’s shortening attention span.

And usually, it’s something along the lines of this prime philosophical example:

If a man is taking a dump on your chest in the middle of the forest. Can anyone hear you scream?

-Twitter user VanRiggins

Television

This gets a tad out of the scope that most of our articles are usually confined to, but I have to cover this – compare modern, cookie-cutter television with the quality shows of old times past.

I mean, the Cartoon Network TV show Robot Chicken (which I have sadly witnessed a few times) is almost less of a parody of modern TV as it is a true representation of what all shows look like to me: stale, unfunny, mass-produced smut designed to please the general public before their attention spans wear out.

And with the constant shortening of our attention spans comes a noticeable hit in quality in the eyes of the minority of society actually able to view things for what they are.

Rap, MTV and the like

I watch MTV every now and again, and what I witness frightens me to no end. I can’t help but to feel like I’m witnessing the end of the world: this is the popular culture that our future politicians, leaders, and ultimately those whom will replace and take care of us are growing up within.

Rap music is a prime example: You can argue about how complex the lyrics are and how they have a “deep” meaning once you get past the talks of rape and violence, but overall it is just a beat and fast talking.

But the very fact that it is simple and rapid-fire makes it suitable for the shortening attention span of our youth, and also helps to further whittle said attention span until all of America’s children are running around screaming in circles.

But I forgot, there’s a “medical” name for that, and it’s called being ADHD. And there’s several drugs for that made-up disease clinically proven to be just as addicting as heroin while providing the effects of cocaine.

The Blame Falls On Us

We’re the ultimate ones to blame for all this. Parents out there simply gave what they thought was a better lifestyle to their children, but as result, spoiled them in a life of over-indulgent luxury and quickly-evolving technology that has given way to the mess that society has become.

And as long as there is a profit to be made in it, this won’t change any time soon.

Too Late To Turn BAck

So while I’ve attempted to outline here a few examples of how society is slowly decaying to a gruesome version of its past structure, there really isn’t anything we can really do to save it.

Some could argue that society and popular culture has been on a downward spiral ever since the term existed in the first place, and I could sympathize with that completely.

The Internet is just yet another mass medium of communication, and with this innovation comes the obligatory ignorance that seems to follow any great advancement in history.

Just talk to any GUI or web designer – expect the target user(s) to be stupid, and that alone is a definition whom’s bar gets lowered every couple of years. Just compare early 90′s websites to the modern “Web 3.0″ website.

I’m not knocking innovation or progress in general – I’m all for the advancement of mankind, it’s just the abuse that follows any great thing that I believe is destroying our society until we make a full circle back to the grunts of cavemen and women.

So while the whole point of this post was merely to attempt to point out how society has slowly degraded from its former self over the years with the introduction of newer products and innovations, I don’t expect much to come of it.

Props to those whom realize how our society is dying, as you are quickly becoming a minority in an ever-growing sea of societal menaces.