Evaporating skills are not society getting dumb, they’re society moving on. People don’t have to write cursive anymore, so they don’t, even if they’re taught it they don’t. There’s other skills we’ve had to learn in the new modern world. Most of my ancestors couldn’t install an operating system, I can. Their language is more wordy, not necessarily more intelligent or a better flow, I’ll especially challenge the flow claim. There was a lot more beating language to death then, stringing together a bunch of words when half that is necessary. Our language isn’t ghetto, it’s to the point. We no longer use an entire paragraph to say somebody ran away in fear.
Let's see, I bet you can fix a wagon wheel, shoe a horse, mill grain, build a home, build a cistern, an outhouse, and push a plow until your hands are blistered. Yeah you are a hell of guy. /s