ChatGPT. Every student uses it to write papers. So goes the pervading fear, that is. If you’re a teacher today who assigns any type of writing, good luck. You’re in for a long, arduous road of making a series of impossible decisions over the validity of your students’ work.
Or, again, so goes the argument, and it’s got a lot of credit. When ChatGPT hit the scene in 2022, composition teachers (and teachers in general) across the country began to jointly rub their foreheads in despair. And yes, over three years later, universities are still trying to deal with how to teach, discuss, implement, or discourage the use of AI tools in the classroom and among student populations. Some are banning its use entirely in their departments while others are taking a much more friendly and all-embracing approach to the technology. Adults in fields ranging from customer service to software programming are also figuring ways to incorporate AI into their jobs. Needless to say, this technology is seismic. And yet is everyone so gung-ho about it? More specifically, can we assume the younger generation is embracing it in their own lives?
Teen Attitudes on AI
Julie Jargon wrote an interesting piece for the Wall Street Journal about teen attitudes towards AI and found that their view of it isn’t so optimistic as many might assume. She reports,
It isn’t that teens don’t use chatbots — about two-thirds do, according to a recent report from Pew Research Center. But the teens I spoke to say they have curtailed their use because of fears over cheating accusations, concerns about AI’s environmental impact and worries about negative psychological effects….
“I will use AI sometimes, but it’s a last resort for me,” said Leo Gurney, a 19-year-old college student in London.
An Extension of Social Media?
Jargon is cautious to use the word “trend” when describing her interactions with these teenagers, given that many of them do use AI in their daily lives. However, she also points to the preexisting problems and harms of social media as reasons many of these younger people are taking a more cautious approach to tools like ChatGPT. Many of these kids know firsthand how an over-reliance on social media has handicapped their social lives and mental health, and so don’t necessarily want to fully embrace AI, seeing it as an extension of social media. Other teens that Jargon spoke with said they were concerned with AI’s environmental impact, its potential to make users lazier, and privacy breaches.
While Jargon’s interactions and reporting are limited in scope, it remains significant that teenagers are pushing back in some capacity against the dominion of AI in their lives. Perhaps this does signal a broader cultural and social shift of attitude. Whatever AI’s uses, there are boundaries regarding its use and place, particularly in our relational and spiritual lives. Many young people are starting to realize this and take action accordingly.
Cross-posted at Mind Matters News.