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

[TwoTankAmin]

The dumbing of America. Thank ypou social media and the internet. https://fortune.com/2026/02/21/lapt...time-cellphone-bans-standardized-test-scores/

King’s initial efforts have been mirrored across the country. In 2024, the U.S. spent more than $30 billion putting laptops and tablets in school. But more than a quarter century and numerous evolving models of technology later, psychologists and learning experts see a different outcome than the one King intended. Rather than empowering the generation with access to more knowledge, the technology had the opposite effect.

Earlier this year, in written testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, neuroscientist Jared Cooney Horvath said that Gen Z is less cognitively capable than previous generations, despite its unprecedented access to technology. He said Gen Z is the first generation in modern history to score lower on standardized tests than the previous one.

 

[anewbie]

I'm not totally surprise by the outcome and part of the issue is probably related to how the technology is being used. This is in part my rant about 'ai'; instead of being a tool to collect data people can then evaluate it becomes a tool that provides the answer true or false with the reader unable to distinguish.

It is a real problem with students becoming less able to think and reason and unfortunately opens them up further to conspiracy theory and other bullcrap.

 

[GaryE]

Our generation isn't shining when it comes to critical thought. I meet people my age who talk all kinds of crazy conspiracies and cult stuff, and the kids I worked with were far more critical than their grandparents and often their parents seem to be. I'm not in the US and the pressures are different, but they are similar.

On the flip side, a lot of kids can code, and we couldn't. Or I couldn't, though I did do punch card programs.

I'm concerned, but we're probably echoing an age old thing. All old people think young people are following stupid paths. Some generations, they are, but tech remains a tool. I worked with kids who used it brilliantly, and others who hid in their parents' basements gaming, and are probably still down there. I suspect the ratios would have been similar with textbooks, though it seems undeniable that attention spans have slipped.

Along with tech, there is also the issue of drug culture, often embraced by the parents and doing a lot of harm to the kids.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

The problems with old age and mental ability is one thing, the failure of children to learn how to think is another.

I went through college by writing papers rather than taking course with a lot of tests and exams. I rarely failed to get a top grade on any of my papers. I also smoked a lot of pot etc. in those days and it did not seem to impair my ability to think or write.

There were no computers, cell phones nor internet then. We learned how to think, to do research and to get smarter. I cannot tell you how many hours I pent in the college library researching and reading. I learned how to commit information to memory.

With the internet and how AI now works what kids are learning is they need not learn anything because the answer is always there on their phone etc. it doesn't matter what the quality of that info is only that it be there.

The one thing I do know for sure is there is nothing so full of itself as a teenager or young 20s person. It took me a lot of years of learning to understand that the more I learned the less I really knew. This was simply because the more I learned the more I discovered that I did not know and how much was left to learn.

I also came to realize that I did not have an internal hard drive and I could not remember everything I learned. What I did come to undertsand was it was not so important to have all the answer in my head. it was enough to know where to find the answer. What book pr paper held the detailed information I was likely to need to use down the road.

having a digital resource on hand all the time doesn't make us smarter. it makes us less likely to learn. Why learn stuff when a button push gives you the answer without having to do the work? And no knowing makes us lass smart.

For years I have been saying that what makes the common person uncommon is common sense. AI has no sense at all and neither do those people who fail to learn the sort of things needed to have common sense.

At least when I was learning I knew if I read it in a book or a research paper that intelligent experienced people had determined if the information was worthy of being published. Today, any fool can put anything they want online. But, the problem is not the fools who put this crap there, it is the fools who are too lazy to learn and are willing to believe anything no matter how ridiculous. These sort of people abound in populations across the globe. This does not bode well for mankind.

I consider myself very lucky to be near the end of my life. My genes are good but my health is not so good. So, I expect it is a coin toss if I make it another decade. My hope is that what I see coming for mankind will not befall us before my time is up. However, I would be very worried for my grand children if I had any.