Every augmentation is also an amputation.

Calculators reduced our capabilities in mental and pencil-paper arithmetic. Graphing calculators later reduced our capacity to sketch curves, and in turn, our intuition in working directly with equations themselves. Power tools and electric mixers reduced our grip strength. Cheap long distance plans and electronic messaging reduced our collective abilities in long-form letter writing. The written word decimated the population of bards who could recite Homer from memory.

It's not that there aren't pitfalls and failure modes to watch out for, but the framing as a "general decline" is tired, moralizing, motivated, clickbait.

> Calculators reduced our capabilities in mental and pencil-paper arithmetic.

And now people make bad decisions in their daily life about money etc. Most people can't do the math in their head but they also aren't using their calculator at the grocery store to avoid being taken advantage of. The math doesn't get done.

The lesson isn't that we survived calculators, it's that they did dull us, and our general thinking and creativity are about to get likewise dulled.