Cognitive inequality

Several years after the pandemic, which accelerated the digitalization of society, children are arriving at our schools unable to even maintain eye contact, neither with each other nor with an adult. This is especially true for low-income families, because although screen use affects us all regardless of our circumstances, these families face the greatest difficulties in accessing educational and parenting resources for their children that don't involve the 'easy' solution of staying home and plugging into an increasingly complex screen—be it television, mobile phone, or other devices, thanks to the influence of the internet and social media. These children, like many teenagers, have socialized more with screens than with their peers, which would give them a certain 'mastery' of digital tools were it not for their lack of maturity for responsible use.

In the United States, which is at the forefront of many good things, but also quite a few regrettable ones, half of all adults haven't read a single book in the past year. And in Spain, although the Ministry of Culture's indicators show some slight improvement compared to previous years, one in three people, 35%, still say they never or almost never read. Reading, like writing, is not only a tool for learning or communication, but also a means of shaping our brains, our way of thinking and learning, as well as how we relate to others and interact in society—which is actually when we learn the most.

This is how this new form of social inequality emerges: cognitive inequality, which goes beyond economic and educational inequalities and affects how we develop as human beings and how we approach the world and life.

We can try to avoid the debate and opt for a technological optimism that's slipping through our fingers because we haven't even been allowed a social debate about how far we're willing to let the internet and algorithms colonize our lives—as is happening right now with AI and phenomena like the use of images and media. But the truth is, we should consider many things—in education and in society—that will help us reverse this trend, without giving up the good that technology can offer, but without losing control in the name of a few people's profits.

Fortunately for families, who have been able to put this issue on the political agenda and have forced, in the Balearic Islands themselves, the limitation of mobile phone use in schools. Commendable initiatives like the FERYA program and the actions of FAPA-Mallorca also aim to actively involve us, as parents, in monitoring technologies that currently pose a clear threat to learning and cognition. I still remember the coldness of Zuckerberg, the owner of Meta, during his appearance before the US Senate to answer to families with children who were victims of self-harm or suicide due to content promoted on social media. Two years later, the billionaire's apologies have not been accompanied by any regulatory measures. On the contrary, one of Trump's defining achievements is protecting the interests of these companies. Cognitive inequality, therefore, has direct culprits, and these are the owners of Silicon Valley and the large technology companies themselves, who, ironically, send their own children to screen-free schools. The resurgence in Europe of elite schools—often under the guise of an alternative and supposedly 'free' educational style—accessible only to very high-income families, including here in the Balearic Islands, is an expression of this. Not everyone has access to these resources reserved for a select few families, and all too often, too many families cannot even afford paid extracurricular activities. Thinking, and especially thinking in a complex and critical way, despite being a necessity, risks becoming a privilege. The predisposition of a segment of the younger generation to live under a dictatorship, observed in several studies, is also related to this issue. And so is polarization (in politics, on social media, in everyday life), as a strategy designed for minds that already operate according to almost Pavlovian stimuli. As that African proverb tells us: education is not just the parents' responsibility, but the whole tribe's. And what's at stake right now requires great concern, but also action. We must promote everything that involves rescuing children (and adults too) from screen slavery so they can grow up and truly live free. We could start by reviving things that already exist, like after-school clubs. Don't do likeLet's get to work.