It occurs to me to add that in recent decades there has been considerable research in the area of learning styles, and there's no need to shame people with words like "dumbing down" for responding better to visual instruction than to written or oral. Learning styles differ. The important thing is that as long as people have curiosity and a desire to learn they have opportunities to do so, now more than ever before. Some of us had the benefit of seeing our grandmothers or mothers using a sewing machine or at least sewing on a button, and a lot of that observation may have taken place before a child was taught to read. It definitely makes a difference in their receptiveness to learning skills to have input using several areas of the brain.