The Dark Ages were the centuries following the fall of Rome circa 500 AD

The Dark Ages were the centuries following the fall of Rome circa 500 AD , during which the accumulated Greek and Roman learning of the previous millennium was lost to all but a few monks and scholars.

The designation has become a shorthand for a lengthy period of stagnation and ignorance.

A potential recurrence of this crisis has often been invoked in modern times, notably during Winston Churchill’s address to the British parliament in June 1940 .

If a new dark age does begin, it is likely to arise from technology, not from war, plague, or ideology.

Theorists of mass communications have long produced evidence for the debilitating impacts of television and computers on our minds and souls.

Biggest tycoons of our era— Elon Musk , Mark Zuckerberg , Jeff Bezos , and others whose combined wealth reaches into trillions of dollars —derive their fortunes from attention.

Like videos, music, memes, and tweets, any conversation about public affairs, or any update about world events, is just content to be delivered.

Today ’s genuinely engaged citizen may be the one disengaged from the conflict, the spin, and the noise: the one who no longer follows stories about people he’ll never meet and things he can’t change.