|
|
| Page 1 of 1 |
LeoNatan
☢ NFOHump Despot ☢
Posts: 73947
Location: Israel
|
 Posted: Wed, 28th Jan 2026 02:19 Post subject: Gen Z is the first generation less cog. capable than parents |
|
 |
https://www.upworthy.com/gen-z-technology-schools
| Quote: | Gen Z is the first generation less cognitively capable than their parents but Denmark has a solution
"Since the late 1800s, every generation has outperformed their parents."
Nearly every parent hopes their child will be better off than they are: smarter, more secure, and more well-adjusted. Many parents see this as a stamp of successful parenting, but something has changed for children growing up today. While younger generations are known for their empathy, their cognitive capabilities seem to be lagging behind those of previous generations for the first time in history.
Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath, a teacher turned cognitive neuroscientist who focuses on human learning, appeared before Congress to discuss concerns about cognitive development in children. In his address to the members of Congress, he says, "A sad fact that our generation has to face is this: our kids are less cognitively capable than we were at their age. Since we've been standardizing and measuring cognitive development since the late 1800s, every generation has outperformed their parents, and that's exactly what we want. We want sharper kids."
Horvath explains that the reason this happens is that each generation has gone to school longer than the previous generation. Gen Z is no exception to the longer duration of time spent in school, but they're the first ones who aren't meeting this normal increase in cognitive development. According to the cognitive neuroscientist, the decline is due to the introduction of screens in the classroom, which started around 2010.
"Across 80 countries, as Jean was just saying, if you look at the data, once countries adopt digital technology widely in schools, performance goes down significantly. To the point where kids who use computers about five hours per day in school for learning purposes will score over two-thirds of a standard deviation less than kids who rarely or never touch tech at school," Horvath reveals.
In most cases, the decline in performance doesn't result in better strategies. The neuroscientist shares that the standardized testing has been adjusted to accommodate lower expectations and shorter attention spans. This is an approach that educators, scientists, and researchers went to Capitol Hill to express wasn't working. But not every country is taking the approach of lowering standards to meet lowered cognitive ability. Denmark went in the opposite direction when it realized their students were slipping behind.
France24 recently interviewed educators in Denmark following their seemingly novel approach to students struggling with cognitive development. Since the beginning of the 2025/2026 school year, Denmark has not only been having students turn in their cellphones, but they've also taken tablets, laptops, and computers out of the classroom. No more digital learning for the majority of the school day. Danes went old school by bringing back physical textbooks, workbooks, and writing assignments. The results have been undeniable. Even the students can't seem to deny the success of the countrywide shift in educational approach.
"I think the biggest issue has been that, because we kind of got rid of the books and started using screens instead, that we've noticed that a lot of the kids have trouble concentrating, so it's pretty easy to swipe with three fingers over to a different screen and have a video game going, for example, in class," Copenhagen English teacher, Islam Dijab tells France24.
Now, instead of computers being part of every lesson, Denmark uses computers very sparingly and with strict supervision. One student says that it has been nice not having screen time at school because she loves to read and write. But it wasn't just the lack of attention span children were developing, they were also developing low self-esteem and poor mental health due to the amount of time spent on devices.
The data showing the negative impact of screens on teens' brains has prompted a nationwide change in Denmark that extends outside of the classroom. Afterschool activities are eliminating or extremely limiting electronic use. There is also a national No Phone Day that encourages everyone to put away their devices for the day, and Imran Rashid, a physician and digital health expert, is petitioning parliament to ban social media use for children under the age of 15. The no phone movement in Denmark is a nationwide effort that hopes to right the ship before another generation feels the effects. |
No worries, AI slop will fix it. 
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
| Posted: Wed, 28th Jan 2026 07:37 Post subject: |
|
|
It's called the Reverse Flynn Effect and it is caused by smartphone and social media use, third-worldization of western societies and environmental factors like microplastics poisoning.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
| Posted: Wed, 28th Jan 2026 08:09 Post subject: |
|
|
From my own experience: the lower school education of my 6 and 8 year old is just terrible.
Teachers don't know how to teach anymore. They are bussy with all kind of bullshit, but basic skills are not a priority. Also the teachers don't have a clue what the progress is of the children. They rely 100% on standerdized test. Starting at the age of 6. My son almost droped out at 7 with terrible reading skills. Teachers didn't even noticed he was that bad, only after 1 1/2 year they found out after a test. i was convinced my son was dislectic.
After 3 month practising at home he was avarage. Now he is ahead of avarage.
Comparing to my own time there 35 years ago: it was impossible to fail. The tempo was based on the worst performing kid. Basicaly repeating everything forever (hated that, was bored to death) and in the end everyone passed for basic skills in reading en math.
Teaching material is terrible, publishers just want to sell high quantity of "workbooks" (printed books that have to be filled in) with all kind of bullshit teaching strategies mainly designed to sell those books.
I'm also a firm believer that the female culture is partly to blame. Woman are good with kids and more social then men. But they just aren't all that interest in the core skills kids have to learn. They are more interested with fitting in, doing what people expect from them then teaching the kids the best they can as it was in the past.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
| Posted: Wed, 28th Jan 2026 08:39 Post subject: |
|
|
lol teachers are severely overworked. Can't deal with just teaching kids anymore. No, you're now a psychologist for the children also and have to make multiple different plans for kids due to different diagnosis and whatever, fight with parents who argue the most insane bullshit and the list goes on. To say they can't teach is a bit short sighted as beurocracy has had its filthy paw too deep into the profession making it less personal and overworking the teachers. Everyone understands it was way different when we were kids
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
couleur
[Moderator] Janitor
Posts: 14641
|
| Posted: Wed, 28th Jan 2026 09:28 Post subject: |
|
|
In my opinion our work/life model is completely fucked up.
Both parents have to work 24/7, no time for their kids, no time to study with their kids, leave them on social media etc. etc. I see parents who give smartphones to their babies just to keep them calm. The kids brains are mush from the get go. And then they are in structures from 7h-19h, constantly busy with other kids and no real attention.
Both my kids (2,5y and 5y olds) have not access to smartphones and watch 0 TV except around christmas. And they are both making exceptional progress for their age compared to others in their school. And the reason is not that they have smarter parents. We are average. Its just that my job and my wife only working part-time gives us plenty of time to play with them and dedicate real time to them as opposed to kids being in structures with low-level educators from 7h-19h.
"Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed nonage. Nonage is the inability to use one's own understanding without another's guidance. This nonage is self-imposed if its cause lies not in lack of understanding but in indecision and lack of courage to use one's own mind without another's guidance. Dare to know! (Sapere aude.) "Have the courage to use your own understanding," is therefore the motto of the enlightenment."
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Il_Padrino
Posts: 7715
Location: Greece by the North Sea
|
| Posted: Wed, 28th Jan 2026 10:08 Post subject: |
|
|
Parents need also to learn to be there for their kids. When they make the decision to become a parent, they can't continue focusing on their careers. It's a matter of responsibility. I feel too much of the education and upbringing is being delegated to teachers, schools and society in general
There's nothing wrong with being ambitious from 9 to 5.
There must have been a door there in the wall, when I came in.
Truly gone fishing.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
| Posted: Wed, 28th Jan 2026 10:18 Post subject: |
|
|
| Stormwolf wrote: | | lol teachers are severely overworked. Can't deal with just teaching kids anymore. No, you're now a psychologist for the children also and have to make multiple different plans for kids due to different diagnosis and whatever, fight with parents who argue the most insane bullshit and the list goes on. To say they can't teach is a bit short sighted as beurocracy has had its filthy paw too deep into the profession making it less personal and overworking the teachers. Everyone understands it was way different when we were kids |
In the eighties we had a class of 30. 1 teacher working full time. No support staff. The school had 8 classes. 9 personnel. The ninth was the school head that also filled in teaching when someone was sick. And a partime humanist teacher and gym teacher that did those lessons.
Everyone passed in our class. We were a year ahead of shedule. Never heard them about being bussy.
Now they have tons of people. Support teachers. All kinds of paramedics and special needs assistants. And they are "overworked".
No, they just can't teach. They are poorly trained. I remember the teacher (a narcist psychopath, but he did is job well) that I had for 3 years just teached us with oral lessons supported by his chalkboard. He checked all work being done. If you fucked up, he saw it. And let you repeat stuff as long as it was right. He kept on repeating the same shit untill the last student got it right. Lots of classical stuff. Even I knew as a kid who was good and who wasn't, if someone could read or do math well.
Now they don't check pupils work at all. The schoolwork that I see is full of errors, not corrected. Kids don't even know what they are doing wrong. All the teachers do is just following the teaching methods with pre printed workbooks. For my son that had trouble reading I asked them this year a couple of times: how is he doing with reading and writing, is there stuff we need to practice: they don't have a clue. Probably hear that in february. Same as last year when we heard in february that he was almost ready for special need education for is reading (now top level). It's abysmal. It's got nothing to do with being overworked. The teachers are incompetent and bussy with all kinds of other bullshit besides learning those kids how to read, write and do math.
| Il_Padrino wrote: | Parents need also to learn to be there for their kids. When they make the decision to become a parent, they can't continue focusing on their careers. It's a matter of responsibility. I feel too much of the education and upbringing is being delegated to teachers, schools and society in general
There's nothing wrong with being ambitious from 9 to 5. |
But you need the feedback from school what is going wrong and how to help.
Second lower class and immingrants are never gonna do that, they don't even have the basic skills themselves. Had a couple of those in my class in the eighties: they were doing fine in class. School teached them all. Parental support shouldn't be neccesary for kids to learn basic reading and math skills.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Stige
Posts: 3570
Location: Finland
|
| Posted: Wed, 28th Jan 2026 12:19 Post subject: |
|
|
| Shocktrooper wrote: | | It's called the Reverse Flynn Effect and it is caused by smartphone and social media use, third-worldization of western societies and environmental factors like microplastics poisoning. |
Schools being completely useless and waste of time is what is causing it.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Frant
King's Bounty
Posts: 24809
Location: Your Mom
|
| Posted: Wed, 28th Jan 2026 15:51 Post subject: |
|
|
| Shocktrooper wrote: | | It's called the Reverse Flynn Effect and it is caused by smartphone and social media use, third-worldization of western societies and environmental factors like microplastics poisoning. |
It's the first generation that don't use their brains in everyday life to solve problems or plan ahead. They're the "tiktok generation" with an artificially induced attention span deficit.
Not using their cognitive abilities like earlier generations from early childhood to adulthood means it's a somewhat permanent "disability" due to under-development of the important cognitive neural pathways during their brains most important development years.
It will be "interesting" to see if Gen Alpha and Beta will suffer the same fate.
| friketje wrote: | Now they have tons of people. Support teachers. All kinds of paramedics and special needs assistants. And they are "overworked".
No, they just can't teach. They are poorly trained. |
Since the Gen-Z students suffers from the induced attention span deficit they don't absorb the knowledge like previous generations did.
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!
"The sky was the color of a TV tuned to a dead station" - Neuromancer
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Stige
Posts: 3570
Location: Finland
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Page 1 of 1 |
All times are GMT + 1 Hour |
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
Powered by phpBB 2.0.8 © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group
|
|
 |
|
