Reviving Paradise: How smart is this AI plan really?
Recent research indicates that children’s learning and thinking processes are being negatively affected by an increasing reliance on technology in schools and universities.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is taking the world by storm, with people using it to access information, streamline admin, write books, make music and movies, and even provide personal forecasts.
Technology, particularly since the advent of computers, has provided us with potentially endless ways to access and spread information.
There are a few downsides to bear in mind, however. For a start, recent research indicates that children’s learning and thinking processes are being adversely affected by the increasing reliance on technology in schools and universities.
In 2025, Zhai et al. found that “students who heavily relied on AI dialogue systems exhibited diminished decision-making and critical analysis abilities” (source: mdpi.com); and a 2026 report by the Brookings Institution’s Centre for Universal Education describes “a kind of doom loop of AI dependence, where students increasingly off-load their own thinking onto the technology, leading to the kind of cognitive decline or atrophy more commonly associated with aging brains” (source: npr.org).
In Denmark, where digital IDs and tablets were introduced into schools as early as 2011, authorities in 2026 are returning to physical books and social clubs. Following alarming figures on children’s mental health and school performance, mobile phones are now banned in schools, a return to pre-digital learning is being rolled out, and social media will soon be banned for anyone under 15 (source: www.france24.com).
Here in sunny SA, our government has been making a lot of noise about leading us into a rosy future with a network of “smart cities” – including Port Shepstone, beginning with the “smart mall” that opened last year.
If anyone can find anything insightful there, please let me know.
Of more concern is something reported in the Daily Maverick of March 4, 2026. According to the article, Durban is pressing ahead with plans to build a massive 400MW artificial intelligence data centre in partnership with a South Korean power consortium.
It would be South Africa’s biggest digital data centre, burning up the equivalent of a staggering 25% of Durban’s current electricity supply.
AI data centres are also known to consume large quantities of water – estimated at between 12 million and 20 million litres a day for a 400MW data centre.
Smart or what?
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