A neuroscientist reveals: The new generation is less intelligent than their parents... for the first time in history.
An American neuroscientist has revealed that the new generation, known as Generation Z or Millennials, is the first generation in history to be found to be less intelligent than their parents. This opens the door to questions about the reasons for this phenomenon and whether it is linked to the proliferation of modern technology.
Dr. Jared Coney Horvath, a former teacher turned neuroscientist, revealed that the generation born between 1997 and the early 2010s has suffered from cognitive deficits as a result of their excessive reliance on digital technology in school. The British newspaper, the Daily Mail, quoted Horvath in a report seen by Al-Arabiya.net, as saying in a statement he made before the US Senate Committee on Trade, Science and Transportation that the intelligence of “Generation Z” has declined, even though these teenagers and young adults spend more time in school compared to children of the twentieth century. Since the recording of cognitive development data began in the late nineteenth century, "Generation Z" has officially become the first generation to score lower than the previous generation, as their abilities in attention, memory, reading, mathematics, problem-solving skills, and general intelligence have declined. Horvath claimed that the reason is directly related to the increased amount of learning that is now being done using what he called "educational technology," which includes computers and tablets. The neuroscientist explained that this generation has fallen behind because the human brain has never been programmed to learn from short videos watched online, or from reading concise sentences that summarize much longer books and complex ideas. Horvath said, "Teenagers spend more than half their waking hours staring at screens."
He added, "Humans are biologically programmed to learn from other humans and from in-depth study, not to scroll through screens looking for brief summaries." Horvath and other experts who testified before Congress explained that humans evolved to learn best through genuine human interaction—face-to-face with teachers and peers—not from screens. He added that screens disrupt the natural biological processes that build deep understanding, memory, and focus. It's not a matter of poor implementation, inadequate training, or the need for better apps in schools. Scientists have explained that the technology itself is incompatible with the way our brains naturally function, develop, and retain information. Horvath, director of LME Global, a group that shares brain and behavior research with businesses and schools, said the data clearly shows that cognitive abilities began to plateau, or even decline, around 2010. The expert informed the senators that schools in general had not seen much change that year, and that human biological evolution was too slow to be the cause. Horvath said: "The solution appears to lie in the tools we use within schools to stimulate learning," adding: "If we look at the data, we find that once countries adopt digital technology on a large scale in schools, performance drops significantly." He pointed out that the United States was not the only country affected by the decline in digital literacy, noting that his research included 80 countries and showed a trend over six decades toward worse educational outcomes as more technology entered classrooms. Furthermore, children who used computers for only five hours a day for study purposes scored significantly lower than those who rarely or never used technology in the classroom. In the United States, data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) revealed that when states implemented large-scale programs to provide a device for every student—that is, each student receiving their own device—grades often plateaued or declined rapidly.
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