The Digital Dilemma in Classrooms
Artificial intelligence and social media are now as common in teens’ lives as homework and sports. But while AI tools like ChatGPT can answer questions in seconds, and TikTok can flood screens with endless content, experts worry they may chip away at essential cognitive skills.
Ontario teacher Adam Davidson-Harden compares reading Shakespeare to “lifting weights for language.” Yet one student recently skipped the workout, using generative AI to finish an assignment on The Tempest. The result? A made-up quote and a missed chance to think critically, build arguments, and write with purpose.
When Convenience Replaces Critical Thinking
Davidson-Harden, who has embraced educational technology in the past, says not all digital tools are harmful. However, relying too heavily on them risks replacing the very skills schools are meant to develop—skills like deep reading, problem-solving, and creative thought.
He argues that classrooms should protect spaces where students “mess around with language, react, and explore” without shortcuts doing the hard work for them.
The Attention Cost of Endless Scrolling
Emma Duerden, a neuroscience researcher at Western University, warns that constant social media use rewires attention spans. Her studies found some students scroll three to twelve hours a day. That habit can weaken focus, promote multitasking, and leave young minds in a fog.
Multitasking triggers dopamine, the brain’s “reward” chemical. While small bursts can motivate, chronic overload can confuse thinking and drain mental energy. Over time, this could affect how young people learn, remember, and even manage anxiety.
Generative AI: A Double-Edged Tool
Like social media, generative AI can inspire curiosity—or replace effort. Cognitive offloading, where tools handle mental tasks, is not new. People have always written shopping lists or used maps. The difference now is speed and scale.
Evan Risko of the University of Waterloo says offloading isn’t always bad—it can create room for new skills. The key is using the freed-up mental energy wisely, rather than letting it fade.
Losing the Voice That Makes Learning Matter
Simon Fraser University’s Joel Heng Hartse says students sometimes see AI as a “fact machine,” but it’s really a “probability machine” predicting likely text. If overused, it could flatten voices, making student writing sound alike and robbing learners of the struggle that builds original thinking.
He compares it to weightlifting: a robot can lift the bar, but your muscles don’t grow. In education, that “muscle” is the mind, and without practice, it won’t get stronger.
Bottom line: AI and social media are powerful, but if they replace effort instead of enhancing it, teens risk trading lasting skills for temporary convenience.
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