Google Cloud Speech-to-Text API (Chirp) + Gemini 2.5 Flash Non-Thinking. Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a quotation record.
00:21:11What has happened to Generation Z? These are the results
00:21:15of the world's largest international test
00:21:19for 15-year-olds. These results didn't change much
00:21:22until Generation Z entered the scene. Since
00:21:262012, scores have significantly
00:21:29dropped. When
00:21:32I see the charts, I get sad because I know many people's first
00:21:36reaction will be to say that Gen Z is less intelligent
00:21:40or that Gen Z doesn't try hard enough. So,
00:21:42is a generation really becoming less intelligent, or is
00:21:46there something else to the story? These data belong to the Program
00:21:50for International Student Assessment, or PISA.
00:21:54A program that started 25 years ago. This test is held
00:21:57every 3 years, and now more than 750,000
00:22:00adolescents in 91 countries and regions participate
00:22:04in the same test. Of course, this test is not
00:22:07an IQ test. Its goal is to see how well 15-year-old
00:22:11adolescents can use science, mathematics, and
00:22:15reading skills to solve real-world problems.
00:22:18If.
00:22:50They were born in the early 90s of the Persian calendar. This means that many
00:22:53of them spent their school years during the COVID-19 pandemic.
00:22:57COVID caused a major disruption in children's
00:23:01lives, from school closures to changes that occurred in families
00:23:05and society as a whole. Therefore, it would have been strange
00:23:08if we hadn't seen such an effect in long-term trends.
00:23:11دیدیم.
00:23:13But let's look at these charts again. Researchers who
00:23:17administer the PISA study say that the drop in scores
00:23:20had already begun before the pandemic. They say COVID is part of
00:23:24the story, but not the whole story. Meanwhile,
00:23:27a theory from an American neuroscientist quickly
00:23:31spread online. Why? What
00:23:35happened? What changed around 2012? What caused
00:23:38school education to become separated from cognitive development?
00:23:42The answer cannot be school, because school was the same as it was before.
00:23:45It cannot be biology either, because there hasn't been enough time for such a change.
00:23:49It seems that the answer lies in the tools that
00:23:52we use in schools for education. Her theory is
00:23:56that replacing textbooks and notebooks with tablets and
00:24:00laptops can directly affect test scores.
00:24:03Also, some scientific evidence
00:24:07shows that compared to reading a book or writing on
00:24:10paper, using a screen may interfere
00:24:13with the process of the brain registering and remembering
00:24:17information. The director of the PISA
00:24:20study says that perhaps we are now observing the effect of this
00:24:24in the results. The reality that everyone
00:24:27sees but fewer talk about is technology itself. If
00:24:31we saw the same decline in all subjects, perhaps we would say that the quality
00:24:34of education has decreased. But that's not the issue. The sharpest decline
00:24:38is related to reading skills. A decline that is seen precisely in areas
00:24:42that are intertwined with the digital world. This decrease in
00:24:45reading scores is one of the biggest declines that
00:24:49researchers have recorded to date. The extent of this decline
00:24:52is almost equivalent to losing a full year of
00:24:55education. To be honest, the decline in reading skills in my own
00:24:59generation really worries me. I see
00:25:02this issue especially among younger adolescents of
00:25:06Gen Z, those who seemingly never enjoyed reading.
00:25:09This issue is terrifying to me because reading is the foundation
00:25:13of almost all other subjects. Given
00:25:17all of this, you might be tempted
00:25:20to blame all the score declines on technology in schools.
00:25:24But like the COVID story, it's not that
00:25:28simple. The effect that screens have on children depends
00:25:32on how they are used, on what activities they replace, and
00:25:36even on the child themselves. It's important to see what
00:25:39we do on these screens and why we use them.
00:25:43The real effect must be sought there. This is another
00:25:46PISA chart. The chart shows how many hours a day
00:25:50students use digital tools for leisure
00:25:53in school, and what connection this has to their science
00:25:57scores. The trend is quite clear. Students who
00:26:01spent a lot of time in school using technology for leisure,
00:26:04such as social networks or games,
00:26:07had lower scores. But when
00:26:11we look at the educational use of technology in school,
00:26:14the picture changes. Students who used
00:26:18digital tools for learning achieved higher scores
00:26:21compared to those who did not use these tools.
00:26:25And if we look at Singapore, students
00:26:29in this country are among the best in the world in all
00:26:32subjects. The interesting point is that they also
00:26:36say they use technology in the classroom more than almost any other
00:26:40country. This very fact shows
00:26:44that the matter is not so simple. The director of this research
00:26:48says that different countries have introduced technology
00:26:51into their education systems in different
00:26:54ways. Many education systems still lack the necessary
00:26:57capability and infrastructure for purposeful,
00:27:00conscious, and...
00:27:05The reality is that it's much easier to distribute tablets among
00:27:08students and let them occupy themselves
00:27:12with them. But we shouldn't forget that the life of a 15-year-old
00:27:16is not limited to school. Most
00:27:19of them grow up in a world where digital tools
00:27:22are present in all aspects of it. Even if
00:27:26you completely ban the use of technology in schools,
00:27:30students still have access to mobile phones,
00:27:33the internet, and social media when they get home. They might
00:27:37spend a whole day in school without technology, and then when
00:27:41they get home, if they wish, they can spend 8 consecutive hours
00:27:44on social media. In the
00:27:47next PISA test, a new section will be dedicated
00:27:50to how 15-year-olds use social media
00:27:54and artificial intelligence. But we have to wait
00:27:57until 2031 for its results.
00:28:00In the meantime, scientists are trying to understand
00:28:04what effect this technology has on all our brains, not
00:28:08just adolescents. In the past few years, concerns about the impact
00:28:12of screens on concentration have increased,
00:28:15especially after the widespread adoption of new forms of content, such as
00:28:19TikTok videos, content that was designed to grab
00:28:22attention. However, scientific evidence on the direct
00:28:25effects of these technologies on our attention and concentration
00:28:29is still limited. Probably one of the reasons for this
00:28:33is that this phenomenon is relatively new, and we haven't had
00:28:36enough time to study it precisely. In fact, many questions
00:28:40remain unanswered, and this question is also raised: Is this issue only
00:28:44related to Gen Z or not?
00:28:47I think if adults from different generations who regularly
00:28:51use social media are surveyed,
00:28:54similar signs will probably be seen. It seems
00:28:58that the problem of maintaining concentration is not only
00:29:01specific to Gen Z, but other generations are also struggling
00:29:04with it. While all of us are still adapting to
00:29:08digital life, it's not bad to go back to the same
00:29:11charts. What do these charts really tell
00:29:15us about Gen Z? Perhaps the only thing
00:29:19that can be said with certainty is that while these scores
00:29:22have declined, the world of Gen Z has also been changing
00:29:26rapidly. Part of this trend may be related
00:29:30to the use of screens, but other factors
00:29:33can also play a role, from changes in the education system
00:29:37to the COVID pandemic and even mental health problems
00:29:40among young people, which can affect their academic performance. The
00:29:44reality is that we are facing a set of factors. Most likely, none
00:29:48of them alone can explain a global trend
00:29:51like what we see
00:29:53today.
00:30:44Imposing social restrictions in Iran. Judicial and law enforcement
00:30:48officials have emphasized the implementation of hijab
00:30:52regulations, the prohibition of qalyan, and live music in cafes and restaurants.
00:30:56They stressed.
00:30:59Execution of two more detained protesters.