I think a part of it could be contributed to the advent of 'smart' phones, which are actually IMO dumbing us down. There are studies out now that have found that the use of devices to look information up is dulling our abilities to think on our own. Younger people aren't actually thinking about the questions, but rather clicking to source for the direct answer and then these same people think they are knowledgeable on whatever subject they looked up. Young peoples memory functions are getting screwed up from disuse.
Critical thinking is being crushed by one time look ups and not actually fact checking or wondering why the answer is what it is.
Yes. It is SO STUPID. Armed with their conspiracy theories drawn from the "research" they've done on YouTube, they think they know better than scientists and medical professionals.