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# Are We Forgetting How to Think?
- URL: https://www.iqra.ca/2026/are-we-forgetting-how-to-think/
- Published: 2026-10-27T14:12:44.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-27T14:12:44.000Z
- Description: As technology accelerates, perhaps one of the most meaningful things we can do is slow down. Put the phone away, pick up a book, and ponder. Our ability to see the "signs" depends on it.
- Author: Iqra
- Tags: Editor, Muneeb Nasir, CBC Radio's Ideas

*By Muneeb Nasir*

We often call the time we are living through *the Information Age*. With a phone in our pocket, we access vast amounts of information, and we scroll through an endless stream of news, opinions, and updates. But as the amount we read grows, a troubling question follows: *are we actually thinking less?*

A recent episode of the CBC Radio program *Ideas* explored this concern. Experts warn that our attention spans are shrinking and that many of us find it harder to stay with complex ideas. We skim instead of read, and we react instead of reflect.

For people of faith, this is more than a psychological concern. It is a spiritual one.

### **A Call to Reflect**

The Qur'an does not ask for blind belief. Again and again, it invites us to use our minds: to look at the stars, the winds, and even the complexity of our own emotions, and to think. One verse says:

*"It is He who spread out the earth, placed firm mountains and rivers on it, and made two of every kind of fruit; He draws the veil of night over the day. There truly are signs in this for people who reflect."* (13:3)

Reflection of this kind is not a quick glance at a headline. It is slow, deliberate work: connecting one idea to another until a larger picture appears. If we lose the ability to focus on a long article or a demanding book, we lose the very skills we need to notice these "signs."

### **The Trap of Convenience**

Generative AI adds a new temptation. It is now easy to ask a machine to summarize a book we haven't read or to write an email we haven't thought through. These tools can be useful. But when we depend on them too much, we skip the "productive struggle" of wrestling with an idea, which is how understanding is built.

The Qur'an asks: *"Will they not contemplate the Qur’an? Do they have locks on their hearts?"* (47:24)

Those "locks" can be understood in many ways, and one current way is distraction. When notifications and ten-second videos constantly break up our attention, we become easier to mislead. We risk becoming echoes of whatever algorithm we follow, rather than people of understanding.

### **Reclaiming Our Attention**

Thinking well is like a muscle: *if we don't use it, we lose it.* It means staying with an idea that challenges us instead of swiping it away. It also means reading deeply enough to understand someone else's point of view. Maryanne Wolf, a guest on the *Ideas* episode, describes this kind of reading as a bridge to empathy.

This matters far beyond our private lives. In our work with community organizations, we see that the hardest problems, such as poverty, climate change, and social injustice, cannot be solved with "swipe-left" logic. They demand sustained, careful thought, which is exactly what our tradition asks of us.

### **Small Ways to Begin**

Reclaiming our focus doesn't require dramatic change. A few simple habits can help:

- **Set aside time.** Read a book or a long article for 20 minutes a day, with your phone in another room.
- **Think first, then ask.** Before turning to a summary or an AI tool, spend a few minutes with the text or question yourself.
- **Stay with discomfort.** When an idea challenges you, resist the urge to move on. Ask what the other person might see that you don't.

### **The Quiet Act of Worship**

As technology accelerates, perhaps one of the most meaningful things we can do is slow down. Put the phone away, pick up a book, and ponder. Our ability to see the "signs" depends on it.

*Reference: CBC Radio's* Ideas, *"With a decline in reading, is our capacity to think eroding?" (aired February 19, 2026).*