Today ' s words
The infamous virus Covid-19 is known for how it spread world wide in a short period of time between the years of 2019 to 2020 and still continues to mutate to this day. While many aspects like medicine, economy, finances and shared social spaces can actively heal from the consequences brought by the pandemic, we should more often take into consideration the effect that it had on other groups of people, especially children. The effect of a lockdown and the isolation it brings upon young people aren’ t difficult to anticipate, but are certainly interesting to analyze. And many stereotypes associated with generations like Gen Z and Gen Alpha could be directly related to this impact.
A large group of children and pre-teens had to experience the isolation of lock down during a time window in their formative years that is critical to their development.
While schools functioned alternatively through virtual classes, the lack of social interaction and human encounters for these children was often stark. The years in which they should have been learning how to solve, playground fights, homework copying, awkward moments, and other drills of daily life through the simulation of society that a school community provides, were spent behind screens and on social media.
The Lockdown Generation
Luciana Estella Perilla Nuñez. 10A
Aristotle said humans are“ social creatures”, and the effect of taking away the“ social”, which in his words is what makes us human, are more evident than ever. These children, now young adults and late teenagers, spent far too long in spaces like Instagram, TikTok and You- Tube. Spaces that reward behaviors that are considered problematic in the real world. Spaces that rewarded self-centeredness and loudness and controversial opinions. Posting“ hot takes” and causing reactions from viewers, whether that be laughter or anger, got rewarded with likes, views and shares and was therefore encouraged. This can teach someone whose mind and brain are still developing, that everything exists in comparison to them, and even hinder indispensable social skills such as empathy, critical thinking, emotional intelligence, etc. Traits that are required to exist and engage in a shared space, such as the high schools and colleges they would later grow up to attend and the jobs they will take later on.
In turn, the people running these places and the ones in charge of providing guidance to them went back to work post-pandemic work and life like nothing changed, therefore placing the expectations that other generations were held to, onto a group of people who had the most critical of their formative years challenged with a major obstacle that was out of their control. While this effect does not excuse or defend negative behavior, it still has an influence that is taken into consideration less often than it should be, and understanding this perspective might provide fresh insight about solving problems that have surged in recent years and have been attributed to laziness or other traits associated with people within this age range.
Artificial Intelligence and the challenge of thinking for ourselves
Maria Lucía Rueda. 10C
The rise of artificial intelligence has changed the way people access knowledge. Today it is possible to get quick answers, write complete texts, or solve complex questions in just a few seconds. This convenience creates a dilemma: while AI increases opportunities for learning and productivity, it can also weaken our critical skills if we use it as a substitute for intellectual effort. The real challenge is not the existence of these tools, but how we decide to use them.
Excessive dependence on technology can lead to what some researchers call“ cognitive debt,” a situation where the mind gets used to receiving immediate solutions and stops practicing skills such as writing, analyzing, or building arguments. Several studies have shown that when students always rely on artificial intelligence to complete their tasks, their academic results are often lower because they do not internalize what they learn. In addition, the quality of the texts produced by AI is usually less rich in vocabulary and style, which, in the long run, can affect the expressive ability of those who depend too much on it. Recently, I watched the video“ How ChatGPT
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Destroys Your Intelligence” by Platzi, and I found it interesting because it talks about the same problem. The video says that the real danger is not in the tool itself but in how we use it. I think this idea is valuable because it supports the fact that artificial intelligence can only be useful if we use it critically, as support for learning and not as a replacement for our own reasoning.
Looking to the future, artificial intelligence is a useful tool that can make education and creativity better, but it is also a danger if we use it as an easy way all the time. It is not about rejecting it, but about finding a conscious way of using it that preserves intellectual autonomy. The Platzi video works as a useful reminder within a wider debate: the future of learning does not depend only on the technology available, but on the responsibility with which we use it to think, create, and learn for ourselves.