NEW YORK April 11 (DPI) – Longtime NYT Columnist David Brooks, for years a thoughtful right-of-center voice, has grown despairing about America’s future – his latest submission on the scholastic performance and intellectual capacity of the citizenry, and its causes, triggered 2,100 reader comments.

Kicking off his pessimism, Brooks a few weeks back declared that the US’s role in NATO will soon to be over. But this week he focused on the declining intelligence of Americans, which he attributes – with some justification – to the compulsive screen habits of the young and old alike. And the implications haven’t been much contemplated, he writes:

My biggest worry is that behavioral change is leading to cultural change. As we spend time on our screens, we’re abandoning a value that used to be pretty central to our culture — the idea that you should work hard to improve your capacity for wisdom and judgment all the days of your life. That education, including lifelong out-of-school learning, is really valuable.

Readers, for the most part, agreed. Among the most popular comments:

I don’t think that every person needs to complete college, but I wish every person valued knowledge. I’m not sure what our cuture values now, but truth and critical thinking are weak contenders. This isn’t a left/right thing any more. It is an American thing.

Sorry but I don’t think you’ve found cause and effect here. President Trump and the republican senators and congressmen supporting the president’s tariff disaster all went to the best schools and universities, most long before 2012. I think I’d be looking at greed and moral character as explanations for the mess we’re in rather than screen time.

My husband & I are products of public education & public universities. Although from very different backgrounds, our parents deeply valued education & gave us both a head-start in life with college educations. Both of us had parents who read volumes, and read to us. READING IS FUNDAMENTAL.