A recent study has aroused debate after suggesting that Generation Z, those born between 1997 and 2010, is less cognitively capable than previous generations, with researchers pointing to excessive reliance on digital technology as a major factor.
The findings were led by neuroscientist Jared Cooney Horvath, who told the New York Post that a long-standing pattern of generational improvement has stalled.
“A sad fact our generation has to face is that our kids are less cognitively capable than we were at their age. Every generation has outperformed their parents until Gen Z.”
Horvath attributed the trend to weakening attention spans, poor problem-solving abilities, and declining performance in reading and mathematics.
He also questioned young people’s self-assessment of their intelligence, saying, “Most of these young people are overconfident about how smart they are. The smarter people think they are, the dumber they actually are.”
According to the study, teenagers now spend more than half of their waking hours on screens, often consuming content in short bursts rather than engaging in sustained, in-depth learning.
Horvath argued that this runs counter to how the brain develops, noting, “Humans are biologically programmed to learn from other humans and from deep study, not flipping through screens for bullet point summaries.”
The research further drew on data from 80 countries, showing that widespread use of digital technology in classrooms is associated with lower academic performance.
Horvath warned against reshaping education to fit technology rather than learning goals, stating, “Rather than determining what we want our children to do and gearing education towards that, we are redefining education to better suit the tool. That is not progress; that is surrender.”
He urged governments and policymakers to take proactive steps to help the next cohort, Generation Alpha, maximise their cognitive potential and avoid repeating the same decline highlighted in the study.
