You’re absolutely right, but the average person does not think like you. Most people don’t ever think about stuff like this.
And so you currently have a very “high-level”, rational view of technology, that makes it amazing specifically for you.
However, you either disregard or lack contact with people that are (vastly) different. When looking at a technology in relation to the world, like you want to know about in this topic, you have to view the effects on those different people from you as well. And what other people in this thread said is simply observable and happening. A very small percentage uses the internet/technology like you do. The overall effect on the population is not solely amazing.
I fear this is a problem that may never be solved. I mean that people of any intelligence fall for the mind’s biases.
There’s just too little to be gained feelings-wise. Yeah, you make better decisions, but you’re also sacrificing “going with the flow”, acting like our nature wants us to act. Going against your own nature is hard and sometimes painful.
Making wrong decisions is objectively worse, leading to worse outcomes, but if it doesn’t feel worse (because you’re not attributing the effects of the wrong decisions to the right cause, i.e. acting irrationally), then why should a person do it. If you follow the mind’s bias towards attributing your problems away from irrationality, it’s basically a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Great article.