My college has replaced textbooks with internet resources and "current academic literature," but I'm shocked at the number of people who can't interpret a scientific article, nor properly search a database like PubMed or CABI. It can't be for lack of training: we have entire semester-long courses dedicated to research and library use. Maybe the distractions of text messages and TikTok are to blame like the article suggests.

Full headline:

The U.S. spent $30 billion to ditch textbooks for laptops and tablets: The result is the first generation less cognitively capable than their parents

"Ultimately, Horvath said, the loss of critical thinking and learning skills is less of a personal failure and more of a policy one, calling the generation of Americans educated with gadgets victims of a failed pedagogical experiment."

And now another ongoing experiment with genAI.

Feels like the article hand waves away the effect of COVID-19 and the disruption it caused in learning progress, especially for kids that had to start their early years remotely.

Good read if you want to get into it: https://www.npr.org/2025/01/29/nx-s1-5270880/math-reading-co...

Technology does have its effects but this is a very naunced one-sided view, nothing else to expect from the rag that is Fortune.