I teach 18 year olds who range in reading levels from preschool to college, but the majority of them are in the lower half that range. I am devastated by what AI and social media have done to them. My kids don’t think anymore. They don’t have interests. Literally, when I ask them what they’re interested in, so many of them can’t name anything for me. Even my smartest kids insist that ChatGPT is good “when used correctly.” I ask them, “How does one use it correctly then?” They can’t answer the question. They don’t have original thoughts. They just parrot back what they’ve heard in TikToks. They try to show me “information” ChatGPT gave them. I ask them, “How do you know this is true?” They move their phone closer to me for emphasis, exclaiming, “Look, it says it right here!” They cannot understand what I am asking them. It breaks my heart for them and honestly it makes it hard to continue teaching. If I were to quit, it would be because of how technology has stunted kids and how hard it’s become to reach them because of that.
They definitely do lol. My kid uses chat gpt, and he also has critical thinking skills. I’ve taught him to look for evidence and apply logic, not trust blindly what anyone or anything tells him.
Mostly he gets frustrated that chat gpt struggles to precisely remember the imaginary dinosaurs he created with it’s help.
Oh yeah, and he knows how to write with a pencil on paper. He’d rather dictate and let speech recognition do the typing (which he is also capable of), but what kid do you know that doesn’t love a shortcut? I’d blame lazy parents, but most of them are just too tired after working 2.5 jobs to earn a living wage for them and their families you can’t really blame them.