A cognitive neuroscientist, Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath, told members of a U.S. Senate subcommittee that Gen Z is the first modern generation to score lower than their parents on core cognitive skills, even though they spend more time in school.
In a TikTok clip shared by @brutamerica and reposted to r/TikTokCringe, he argued that classroom technology is correlated with those declines and said children “evolved biologically to learn from other human beings, not from screens.”
Horvath, who previously taught in schools, said he does not receive funding from major technology companies.
@brutamerica “When tech enters education, learning goes down.” During a recent Senate hearing, brain expert Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath warned that screen-based learning can harm children’s cognitive development. Horvath said the way children learn has not fundamentally changed just because technology has become more common in classrooms. He argued that screens do not automatically improve understanding, and that more digital tools do not necessarily make learning more effective. jaredcooney learning screenlearning
♬ original sound - Brut. - Brut.
Since standardized cognitive tests became popular in the late 1800s, he added, every generation has surpassed the one before it in terms of attention, memory, reading, numeracy, executive function, and overall IQ as a result of spending more time in school.
However, he also says Gen Z is the first group “to underperform us on basically every cognitive measure we have,” despite spending more years in education.
Horvath argued that what changed around 2010 was the widespread adoption of digital learning tools, citing assessment data from about 80 countries.
Once countries adopt digital technology widely in schools, average performance “goes down significantly,” and students who used computers about five hours a day in school for learning purposes scored lower than peers who rarely or never use tech at school.
Horvath's study indicated state-level National Assessment of Educational Progress scores tend to plateau and then fall after one-to-one device programs roll out, though he notes those patterns are correlational.
Horvath cited educational psychologist Dylan Wiliam as saying, in Horvath's paraphrase, that educational technology has been “coming for 60 years” but “ain't doing anything.”
He said humans “have evolved biologically to learn from other human beings, not from screens,” which he argues “circumvent that process.”
Comment
byu/cafeteriastyle from discussion
inTikTokCringe
commenters called it "alarming" that kindergarten classes were using tablets. One of them said, "How do I bring something like this up at a PTA without sounding like a complete luddite. Oof."
Another wrote, "That's the single most important statement a teacher ever made to me, 'This (learning) is supposed to be hard.'"
A third added, "You can branch off this mentality and it gets controversial quickly. But yes! Growth comes from work. Same with muscles in our bodies!"
The Daily Dot was unable to independently verify each data point Horvath cites. The details above reflect his recorded remarks as shared by @brutamerica, related coverage of his Senate appearance, and Reddit users’ responses in the r/TikTokCringe thread.
