Media People Newsletter
Written and curated by Victor Genova · July 7, 2025 · Issue #27

Welcome to the twenty-seventh issue of the Media People Newsletter. Today we cover:

• GROWTH: Is AI eroding critical thinking?

• WORKING: The infinite workday

• PODCAST: ReBoot Consulting Group Managing Partner & Founder, Kerry Harris

• HUMOUR: Writing your own emails when ChatGPT is down

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GROWTH

Is AI Eroding Critical Thinking?

​Put your hand up if you’re sick of hearing people on LinkedIn profess that ‘AI is coming for your job’?

Good, I’m right there with you. AI is wonderful at making time-consuming, mundane tasks practical. ChatGPT has helped me knock-off tasks that would have otherwise taken me much longer to complete. But to say it’s a replacement for experience and competency is absolute nonsense.

And it looks like the smart folks at MIT agree with me.

A recent study suggests that utilizing AI can erode one’s critical thinking skills. Participants were tasked with writing an essay using one of three things:

1) An LLM like ChatGPT
2) A search engine
3) Their brain

The result? The ‘LLM participants’ showed weaker neural connectivity while the ‘brain’ group demonstrated higher memory recall. You can read the study here.

WORKING

The Infinite Workday

Have you given commuting the middle finger by snagging a swanky remote job?

Are you basking in the additional 110 minutes you’re likely saving?

Well the joke’s on you! Your workday has likely gotten longer. A new Microsoft Work Trend Index reveals what you might already know: that traditional work has vanished.

According to the data, 40% of employees check email before 6am, while the average person fires off 153 Teams messages a day. Meetings? The data found that half are unscheduled, 10% pop up last-minute, and a growing number occur after 8pm.

The blur between ‘on’ & ‘off’ hours continues through the weekend, with nearly one in five (employees) checking email Sunday mornings. As for the ‘actual’ workday? You’re likely facing interruption every two minutes. Microsoft suggests AI might save us from admin overload, but warns it could also make the workday even longer.

MEDIA PEOPLE PODCAST

ReBoot Consulting Group Managing Partner & Founder, Kerry Harris

Episode 119 of the Media People Podcast is LIVE with ReBoot Consulting Group Managing Partner & Founder, Kerry Harris! We chat…

🎯 Why dissolving a business partnership is akin to a divorce
🎯 Why Kerry passed on an NCAA track scholarship
🎯 Why Canadian citizens make the best US travel show producers
🎯 Leading Weber Shandwick Canada
🎯 What’s next with ReBoot Consulting Group

Our full episode is available here.

HUMOUR

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