I am not by any means a technophile, but I strongly believe that technology has a place. And that should never replace true learning.
Many years of my life were spent in school. Years on top of that were spent gaining outdoor skills through scouting. Even more years in the military. Learning on learning. Clawing my way through boring subjects.
But today the environment is totally different. A couple of seconds and a Google search connect you to an AI chat bot who conveniently seems to answer all your problems. Why learn the skill when you can get an instant answer?
I am constantly getting after our oldest for this. He wants to learn how to code. But when he does not instantly have the skill to build what his brain created, AI to the rescue. Yet no skill was actually gained.
It’s one thing to have AI build an outline or complete a repetitive task. It’s a totally different thing to let AI give you the answer. To me, it’s like studying for mid-terms while the student next to you leans over and copies your paper. Do you really want to be the one relying on copied answers? Passive knowledge used will never beat active knowledge gained.
Studies are starting to come out showing the more we let technology become our full-time crutch, the less we actually use our brains! And we retain little knowledge, if any, with AI in the driver’s seat.
You likely won’t suffer when you use AI to write your code or solve a quick homestead problem. But what happens when the grid goes down?
For example, if you never learned basic first aid, it’s going to be hard to help someone in need.
Books are great when you have time to search for the answer. Yet a life-threatening injury does not give you time to look it up. And without an instant (maybe right) answer from AI, you might do more harm than good.
Technology has its place. But it can never take over for the things we really need to learn as long term skills. Don’t fall for the easy way and leave yourself and your family vulnerable.
True preparedness comes from skills practiced and tested, again and again.