One Generation's Technological Vice is A Later One's Virtue
Looks Like AI Adoption Will Repeat This Familiar Pattern
Parents and teachers in 2025 struggle like teeth-pullers to get teen-agers to read a good book, like To Kill a Mockingbird or The Catcher in the Rye. That would surprise our 18th century forebears, who thought reading novels was a waste of time– practically the TikTok of its day. But then many a new practice is treated as a vice until a newer one takes that role, making the former Bad Thing look like a Good Thing. Inexpensive and widely available novels stopped being seen as frivolous and became virtuous. Movies went from inconsequential twaddle to serious art. Comic books went from brain-rotting slop for children to solemn works of genius. Videogames went from pixelated silliness to museum-worthy creations.
In my own craft of journalism, calling people on the phone has gone from a mark of laziness (you should go in person!) to a token of journalistic virtue (well done, you didn’t just sen…