Technology can change the way children think
Offloading tasks to technology must be balanced with opportunities for active thinking
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AI tools are becoming a bigger part of everyday life, even in childhood. Chatbots can answer questions instantly, give reminders, and solve problems, all with little effort from the user. Information and assistance are always available. What happens when individuals – especially children – rely less on their own memory and thinking?
Cognitive offloading is the use of tools to reduce our mental effort. As adults we do this often: saving phone numbers in our devices, relying on calendars for appointments, and using GPS to guide us to our destinations. Children are now growing up surrounded by opportunities to offload cognitive demands from an early age. How does relying on digital tools affect their developing minds?
How children learn to offload information
Children as young as 4 or 5 use physical objects to reduce the cognitive demands of a task, and they become increasingly strategic and efficient as they grow older. For example, they physically rotate objects instead of imagining rotation when this helps them complete a task. In performing this physical action, the child shifts mental effort onto something outside the mind instead of relying purely on mental imagery. The process is similar to saving a phone number onto a device. Children learn to judge when offloading is helpful or when a task is difficult or important enough to require external support.
By early adolescence, when children are approximately ages 10 to 12, they use physical offloading strategies selectively and only when necessary to achieve their goals. They may rely on computer-programmed reminders such as digital alerts, calendar notifications, or reminder apps to support memory.
The benefits of offloading
Adults who use digital reminders, such as calendar alerts, may be able to complete other everyday tasks more efficiently, particularly when they are distracted or managing many competing demands. Moreover, storing information digitally can create mental space for learning new information more thoroughly.
Forgetting, too, can sometimes support children’s learning. For example, preschoolers who were told to forget previously learned material remembered new information better than those instructed to keep remembering the old material. Over the course of their development, children become more efficient at discarding unnecessary information. Offloading information onto digital tools may provide a similar benefit for learning.
“Excessive reliance on cognitive offloading may result in learned information being stored less deeply.”
Overreliance on digital tools
However, excessive reliance on cognitive offloading may result in learned information being stored less deeply. When adults and children as young as 5 know that information will be available, for example through notes, they study less and are more likely to forget what they’ve learned. Some digital tools exacerbate this problem by overwhelming our attention with constant streams of information, making it harder to concentrate and form lasting memories.
We are more likely to use easy tools with touchscreens and instant access to offload, rather than slower or more effortful tools. When we offload information onto digital devices, we are less likely to check for accuracy and may not notice when information has been manipulated.
We are less apt to remember information when we believe we can find it easily online. Similarly, if we have access to search tools we may rely less on our own knowledge or offer fewer speculative answers.
Habitually using GPS for navigation is linked to poorer spatial memory, suggesting that outsourcing our wayfinding could lead to a decline in mapping abilities. When we listen to GPS directions, we may not form a detailed mental map or actively engage with the environment. Active engagement, rather than passive reliance, can help all of us, including children, build skills while interacting with digital tools.
“To ensure healthy cognitive development, the external support these tools offer should be balanced with opportunities to activate children’s thinking.”
Opportunities and risks of AI
AI assistants that generate answers, summaries, and feedback can support students’ learning by reducing the amount of time required for tedious tasks and allowing students to focus on higher-level thinking. Tools that students can talk to, including digital assistants like Alexa, may feel trustworthy because they mimic social interactions. Even young children may judge them to be credible and seek their help if they perceive them as competent. Conversations that feel natural may make cognitive offloading feel more intuitive and automatic for young users.
But AI assistants can also encourage excessive reliance on offloading. Children and adolescents may be especially vulnerable because they are still developing attention, memory, and critical evaluation skills. To ensure healthy cognitive development, the external support these tools offer should be balanced with opportunities to activate children’s thinking.
How to help children use AI thoughtfully
- Encourage children to think through a problem before asking AI for help, so that these tools support rather than replace their thinking.
- Use AI to spark creativity and curiosity by brainstorming ideas, telling stories, and exploring questions together.
- Choose AI tools designed for children that encourage learning, and use age-appropriate language.
- Teach children that AI is not always accurate and encourage them to question its responses and check trusted sources.
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