dumbing down
Making things simpler
Dumbing down is the process of simplifying something to make it accessible to a less sophisticated audience, usually with the implication that quality or depth is sacrificed: the dumbing down of American education, Critics accused the network of dumbing down the news.
The term is nearly always pejorative, suggesting that standards have been lowered rather than clarity improved.
- oversimplificationStripping complexity unfairly
- simplisticExcessively basic, ignoring complexity
- trivializeMake light of
- infantilizationTreating as immature
- clickbaitSensationalized content for traffic
stupid · brain drain · anti-intellectualism · dilute · pablum · sensationalism · tabloidization · reality TV · superficiality · ignorance · grade inflation · infotainment · soundbite · short attention span · attention span · misinformation · spoon-feeding · lowest common denominator
- condescensionpatronizing, belittling, superiority, smugness, arrogance
- corruptioncorruption, graft, kickbacks, bribery, bribes
- downplayingminimizing, trivializing, belittling, soft-pedal, dismissing
- explainingexplaining, clarifying, elaborating, elucidating, expounding
- plain languageplain language, plain English, plain text, plain talk, plain speech
- simplificationsimplification, simplifying, simplify, condensing, simplified
dumbing downintellectualizing
Analyzing rather than feeling
complicating · deepening · elevating · enriching · complexifying
dumbing downelevating
Lifting to higher level
enriching · uplifting · cultural enrichment · enhancing · refining
down, dumb, downs, download, downturn, downer, downtime, dumbbell, downplay