My college has replaced textbooks with internet resources and "current academic literature," but I'm shocked at the number of people who can't interpret a scientific article, nor properly search a database like PubMed or CABI. It can't be for lack of training: we have entire semester-long courses dedicated to research and library use. Maybe the distractions of text messages and TikTok are to blame like the article suggests.
Be careful they might like your idea. It might not be long before researchers are expected to have a short trendy TikTok like video as their papers synopsis. Those with the most witty and entertaining videos get the most funding.
Feels like the article hand waves away the effect of COVID-19 and the disruption it caused in learning progress, especially for kids that had to start their early years remotely.
"Ultimately, Horvath said, the loss of critical thinking and learning skills is less of a personal failure and more of a policy one, calling the generation of Americans educated with gadgets victims of a failed pedagogical experiment."
It's both an opportunity and a curse. When I was younger I wrote 3d games in raw assembly language, and created my own language and VM. Today you can now do all of that entirely with AI. It's a huge time saver and will result in greater productivity. However, in order to maintain and build strong cognitive skills, you need to engage in challenging problems and learning.
The drive to solve complex problems and build new and fancy things will always be there, and there will always be a subset of people who will leverage the technology to build even bigger and better things than was possible for our generation. So those people will benefit (and possibly get very rich). The technology will likely raise up everyone's productivity and living standards, although those who don't flex their cognitive abilities might find they suffer more chronic health problems later in life.
MillironX|9 days ago
Bender|8 days ago
altmanaltman|9 days ago
Good read if you want to get into it: https://www.npr.org/2025/01/29/nx-s1-5270880/math-reading-co...
Technology does have its effects but this is a very naunced one-sided view, nothing else to expect from the rag that is Fortune.
johntfella|8 days ago
_tk_|9 days ago
The U.S. spent $30 billion to ditch textbooks for laptops and tablets: The result is the first generation less cognitively capable than their parents
qlfhvt76b|9 days ago
jruohonen|9 days ago
And now another ongoing experiment with genAI.
cpncrunch|8 days ago
It's both an opportunity and a curse. When I was younger I wrote 3d games in raw assembly language, and created my own language and VM. Today you can now do all of that entirely with AI. It's a huge time saver and will result in greater productivity. However, in order to maintain and build strong cognitive skills, you need to engage in challenging problems and learning.
The drive to solve complex problems and build new and fancy things will always be there, and there will always be a subset of people who will leverage the technology to build even bigger and better things than was possible for our generation. So those people will benefit (and possibly get very rich). The technology will likely raise up everyone's productivity and living standards, although those who don't flex their cognitive abilities might find they suffer more chronic health problems later in life.