Is the average fan now smarter or dumber than 10-15 years ago?

[Hennessy]

I predate Google and Wikipedia. By a lot.
Although I know more now, having easier access to information hasn't made me smarter. It has made me more correct in my references, but sadly that is too often not the case at large when it comes to learning stuff from the internet.

Hockey fandom is no different.

 

[Djp]

With how easy it is to watch hockey, have access to advanced stats or info in general (news articles, educative content), would you say the average fan is now smarter about the game of hockey or the opposite?

Or has Player Cards, hot takes and TikTokification made things worse?

Discuss

No

Average fan doesn't deep dive into sdv stats.

Even some who think they know it because they follow adv stats don't understand the underpinnings and limitations

 

[fancy dan]

way way dumber

 

[pdavemoney]

I think it's pretty obvious that as more people become involved with something, the average IQ begins to drop. Casual fans will have less knowledge of the rules, the history and probably less passion....and that's ok...

 

[Andre Palot]

Fans who talk well of my team/my team’s players are smarter.

Fans who criticize anything about my team are not! /s

As is tradition.

 

[The Hanging Jowl]

Can I be dumber *and* wiser? I'm definitely dumber but also wise enough to admit I am. Any good?

 

[JianYang]

Am I the only one thinking of the movie "idiocracy" while sifting through this thread?

 

[DJN21]

I'm still a Sabres fan so clearly getting dumber by the day.....

 

[DJN21]

To play devil's advocate this site adding things such as a "like" button also play into this....it's copy a social media function.

People's egos feed off that. Instead of remembering a poster for their contributions we can look at and see their likes/post numbers and decide that they are "credible". If you are a mod or contributor you are more likely to get a different response as well (and I mention this because these things often go hand in hand with each other).

 

[Chainshot]

Is this a collective "back in my day" thread?

 

[Bear of Bad News]

If you are a mod or contributor you are more likely to get a different response as well

I usually get photocopies of middle fingers.

 

[Strangle]

With how easy it is to watch hockey, have access to advanced stats or info in general (news articles, educative content), would you say the average fan is now smarter about the game of hockey or the opposite?

Or has Player Cards, hot takes and TikTokification made things worse?

Discuss

10 years ago isn’t going back far enough. You need to go back 30+ years to get out of the dumb.

When kids memorized stats from the backs of hockey cards. That was peak knowledge

 

[Chainshot]

I usually get photocopies of middle fingers.

So @Gee Wally sent out the meeting agenda and the meeting minutes again?

 

[Strangle]

People in general seem to be losing their critical thinking skills, which you know, not great. Most seem to want to align with some bullshit ideology so they feel like they belong to something without informing themselves well enough to put together their own opinion.

As far as the subsection of sports fans though? Let's be real this was never a population sample marked for their intelligence. Probably about the same.

If you haven’t realized this after the lab leak ‘conspiracy theory’ campaign of disinfo when saying covid came from a lab in China was ‘racist’ but eating some weird armadillo raw out of wet markets wasn’t ‘racist’ …. I mean I don’t know what to tell ya

 

[Pablo El Perro]

I'd say smarter just due to the fact that there's AI with smartphones and social media now.

I'd say dumber for more or less the same reason.

 

[DJN21]

I usually get photocopies of middle fingers.

Nothing to photocopy on my end

 

[Saga of the Elk]

If intelligence is described as the ability to cohere complex thoughts, analyze variable data points, recall and apply learned information, then yes what was the question?

Actually one of the areas where dumbness is rampant is in the broadcasts. They've always relied on a certain amount of "ya need yer goalie ta be da best penalty killer" but we've lost a lot of the good ones and the new ones are dire.

 

[1989]

I usually get photocopies of middle fingers.

Better a middle finger than a middle leg.

 

[Bear of Bad News]

Better a middle finger than a middle leg.

To be fair, that might have been what they sent, but it certainly looked small.

 

[Three On Zero]

To be fair, that might have been what they sent, but it certainly looked small.