Gen Z is the first generation less cognitively capable than their parents. Denmark has the solution.
Nearly every parent hopes their child will be better off than they are: smarter, more secure, and more well-adjusted. Many parents see this as a stamp of successful parenting, but something has changed for children growing up today. While younger generations are known for their empathy, their cognitive capabilities seem to be lagging behind those of previous generations for the first time in history.
Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath, a teacher turned cognitive neuroscientist who focuses on human learning, appeared before Congress to discuss concerns about cognitive development in children. In his address to the members of Congress, he says, "A sad fact that our generation has to face is this: our kids are less cognitively capable than we were at their age. Since we've been standardizing and measuring cognitive development since the late 1800s, every generation has outperformed their parents, and that's exactly what we want. We want sharper kids."
Student smiling in a classroom, working on a laptop.Photo credit: Canva
Horvath explains that the reason this happens is that each generation has gone to school longer than the previous generation. Gen Z is no exception to the longer duration of time spent in school, but they're the first ones who aren't meeting this normal increase in cognitive development. According to the cognitive neuroscientist, the decline is due to the introduction of screens in the classroom, which started around 2010.
"Across 80 countries, as Jean was just saying, if you look at the data, once countries adopt digital technology widely in schools, performance goes down significantly. To the point where kids who use computers about five hours per day in school for learning purposes will score over two-thirds of a standard deviation less than kids who rarely or never touch tech at school," Horvath reveals.
In most cases, the decline in performance doesn't result in better strategies. The neuroscientist shares that the standardized testing has been adjusted to accommodate lower expectations and shorter attention spans. This is an approach that educators, scientists, and researchers went to Capitol Hill to express wasn't working. But not every country is taking the approach of lowering standards to meet lowered cognitive ability. Denmark went in the opposite direction when it realized their students were slipping behind.
France24 recently interviewed educators in Denmark following their seemingly novel approach to students struggling with cognitive development. Since the beginning of the 2025/2026 school year, Denmark has not only been having students turn in their cellphones, but they've also taken tablets, laptops, and computers out of the classroom. No more digital learning for the majority of the school day. Danes went old school by bringing back physical textbooks, workbooks, and writing assignments. The results have been undeniable. Even the students can't seem to deny the success of the countrywide shift in educational approach.
"I think the biggest issue has been that, because we kind of got rid of the books and started using screens instead, that we've noticed that a lot of the kids have trouble concentrating, so it's pretty easy to swipe with three fingers over to a different screen and have a video game going, for example, in class," Copenhagen English teacher, Islam Dijab tells France24.
Now, instead of computers being part of every lesson, Denmark uses computers very sparingly and with strict supervision. One student says that it has been nice not having screen time at school because she loves to read and write. But it wasn't just the lack of attention span children were developing, they were also developing low self-esteem and poor mental health due to the amount of time spent on devices.
Students focused and ready to learn in the classroom.Photo credit: Canva
The data showing the negative impact of screens on teens' brains has prompted a nationwide change in Denmark that extends outside of the classroom. Afterschool activities are eliminating or extremely limiting electronic use. There is also a national No Phone Day that encourages everyone to put away their devices for the day, and Imran Rashid, a physician and digital health expert, is petitioning parliament to ban social media use for children under the age of 15. The no phone movement in Denmark is a nationwide effort that hopes to right the ship before another generation feels the effects.
Restoration workers now see how "critical" wood is to the natural habitat.
For decades, river restoration in the Northwestern United States followed a simple rule: if you saw logs in the water, take them out. Clean streams were seen as healthy streams, fast-moving water was seen as optimal, and wood was treated like a "barrier" to natural processes, particularly those of the local fish.
Now, helicopters are flying thousands of tree trunks back into rivers to undo that thinking.
In central Washington, one of the largest river restoration efforts ever attempted in the region is underway. More than 6,000 logs are being placed along roughly 38 kilometers, or 24 miles, of rivers and streams across the Yakama Reservation and surrounding ceded lands.
Nearly 40 years ago, Scott Nicolai was doing the opposite kind of work, all in the name of restoration.
"(Back then) the fish heads — what I call the fisheries folks — we stood on the banks, and we looked at the stream," Nicolai, a Yakama Nation habitat biologist, told Oregon Public Broadcasting. "If we saw a big log jam, we thought, 'Oh, that's a barrier to fish. We want the stream to flow.'"
Fish find shelter for spawning in the nooks and crannies of wood. Photo credit: Canva
At the time, logs were removed in an effort to simplify the habitat. However, it soon became clear that wood provided vital "complexity," creating sheltered pockets for salmon and bull trout to spawn and supporting algae that feed aquatic insects. Logs also slow water, spread it across floodplains, and allow it to soak into the groundwater. That water is then slowly released back into streams, helping keep them flowing and cooler during hot, dry periods.
The consequences of removing this "critical part of the system" (in addition to overgrazing, railroad construction, and splash dam logging) were made all too clear over the years as the rivers dried up and wildlife populations declined.
"We're trying to learn from our mistakes and find a better way to manage," said Phil Rigdon, director of the Yakama Nation Department of Natural Resources.
That's why Nicolai is now helping lead a project for the Yakama Nation aimed at rebuilding river complexity by returning logs to their rightful place. Many of these streams are now unreachable by road, which is why helicopters are used. Logs are flown from staging areas and carefully placed at precise drop locations marked with pink and blue flagging tape.
Many of these streams are now unreachable by road, which is why helicopters are used.Photo credit: Canva
The wood comes from forest-thinning projects led by The Nature Conservancy and includes species such as Douglas fir, grand fir, and cedar. Although some of the timber could have been sold, it is instead being used as river infrastructure.
For tribal leaders, the work carries even deeper meaning. During the helicopter flights, they gathered along the Little Naches River for a ceremony and prayer.
Tribal leaders gathered by the Little Naches River for a ceremony and prayer.Photo credit: Canva
"It was very simple: to bring what was rightfully part of this land back to us," said former tribal chairman Jerry Meninick.
The aftermath of the original restoration project illustrates how human concepts, such as the belief in the superiority of "cleanliness," can be limited and sometimes cause more harm than good. The miracle of nature, however, is that when left to her own devices, she can heal herself.
High-schoolers are trying to crack each other up with random household items.
No matter your age, it’s always easy to look at younger generations and think, "Kids these days with their technology." But one new teenage TikTok trend is so analog and evergreen, it feels like it could have existed in the 1900s. It’s pretty simple: Kids are bringing random household items to school, gathering with their friends, plopping their selections down onto a table, and hoping the surprises will make each other laugh to the point of a classic spit-take.
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly who started this wholesome game, but it’s quickly become popular enough to spawn an entire social media account rounding up the most popular clips. Several of the best belong to TikToker eliblair._, who posted their first such video on January 9. It shows five kids sitting in a circle, each taking turns in a sort of show-and-tell style. The first one ends with the biggest group laugh: a stuffed Super Mario toy.
@eliblair._ #fypシ #viral #school #funny
That clip earned over one million views, and (as of this writing) they’ve posted nine more videos, showing the friends cracking each other up with everything from jumper cables to robot vacuums to a large Boston Terrier mask. Some of the biggest laughs happen when two people bring in the same item, including clothes irons and packages of hot dogs. It's hard to describe exactly why this is funny, but...it just is.
Will this trend eventually extend beyond schools into our offices, break rooms, and living rooms? It seems entirely possible, given how universal the whole thing is. At any rate, lots of people on TikTok are delighted by these displays of good, clean, (if slightly bizarre) fun. It seems to have triggered a certain nostalgia for many viewers, who made comparisons to the former MTV game show Silent Library (2009-2011), in which contestants tried to stay quiet in strange situations. Here are some of the top reactions to eliblair._’s videos:
@eliblair._ #fypシ #viral #funny #school #trending
"We gotta bring back silent library"
"If you think about it [you’re] really just playing show n tell"
"2026 and we’ve finally brought back silent library. the world may be healing"
"humans are so easily entertained it's amazing"
"The children yearn for Silent Library"
"Everything is so much funnier at school 😩"
"'hey mom can i bring the roomba to school?'"
"Fellas please don’t stop doing this. It’s so simple yet it’s freaking hilarious. I’m 53 and I laughed my a-- off every time I watch this. This is so me when I was in high school. I love every second of it please keep doing it."
"Roomba trying to find its home dock all day"
"48.2 million views proving THIS is what tiktok was made for."
"this IS EXACTLY what it's like to hang out with your bros lmfaooooo"
"71 year old grandma here and I love these. Always a good laugh."
Speaking of absurd but joyful TikTok trends, please turn your attention to the German craze of "pudding mit Gabel," in which teens meet up in parks, bring along a cup of pudding and a fork, and eat together. That’s pretty much it! And it’s gone viral beyond Germany, even extending into other countries: One meet-up even took place in New York City’s Central Park.
Teenagers hanging out at a park. Photo credit: Canva, Africa Images (both images, cropped)
Carmen San Diego (left) a stressed women trying to meal plan (right)
For many of us, the struggle to effectively meal plan is very, very real. It's made all the more challenging with rising grocery prices and less time to actually cook. Perhaps, though, part of the issue comes from the pressure we put on ourselves to treat daily meals like an international vacation.
Or as Evelyn Ngugi, also known as @myinternetcousin, put it, our need to “Carmen Sandiego meal plan.”
“The reason you’re stressed out about meal planning,” Ngugi bluntly began in a TikTok video, is because you’re under the false idea that you need to eat vastly different food every single day.”
Ngugi theorized that this might be a strictly “American” quirk, since we have constant access to so many different cultural cuisines, and thus subconsciously think we need to be “hitting every continent in the span of a calendar week.”
A family enjoying dinner Photo credit: Canva
This is something you won’t see in non-American households, argued Ngugi.
“Fried rice Monday, taco Tuesday, tikka masala Wednesday... nobody else does that, it’s too much…Have you ever been to a Korean household? Kimchi, kimchi, soy sauce, soy sauce, every single day, every single day.”
And for those who feel they “could never eat the same things every day,” Ngugi had some choice words: “Yes you freaking can!” But she also clarified that it’s more about “scaling it back” than removing any and all variety.
“I’m not saying you gotta eat the same chicken breast and broccoli for seven days in a row, but there’s no need to go all around the world in seven days.”
Down in the comments, people playfully admitted to being called out:
“Without being dramatic, I think you just changed my life.”
“No cause same, why do I do this to myself?”
“You’re speaking directly to me, and I don’t like it.”
“Did you just call me a culinary slut?”
There were also others who had already adopted Ngugi’s philosophy who chimed in:
“Mine is a rotisserie chicken... on a salad, made into chicken salad, on nachos, made into Verde enchiladas with pepperjack... all of these take me less than 10 mins prep.”
“I meal prep something that makes more than 5 meals so you can freeze some. When I get bored of the meal of the week I hit the freezer for a previous meal.”
“You also can have all that variety if you’re smart about your ingredients. Rotisserie chicken and rice on Monday is chicken fried rice with leftovers on Tuesday.”
“You ever been to a Filipino household? It’s rice and garlic every single day babe.”
"As an Indian family, we had roti every day. Then, we started having Fridays as our ‘other’ days: pizza, burgers, pasta, ONE day of the week lol.”
“Told my mom once that I didn’t want to make Mexican food three nights in a row, and she goes, ‘Mexicans do?’ So simple but changed everything for me lmao.”
A Mexican family enjoying dinner Photo credit: Canva
It is a luxury to have access to so many different culinary delights, but if what we’re really craving is a bit more peace of mind, maybe we could opt to simplify things a bit.
