It is certain that technology impacted education in a positive way. Study materials are accessible to anyone willing to learn, and a lot of people find learning from web much easier than the paper alternative, especially because it is much easier to choose pace of learning that suits them, rather than being imposed one by fixed class lengths. However, others argue that such alternatives are harmful due to the lack of human interaction and creativity.
From my personal experience, I found that a mixture of both works the best. For example, if I found a topic studied in class particularly challenging I would often search the internet for videos relating to it, and if I still had trouble after that, I would reach out to my teachers to ask for additional help or clarity. Another useful resource for learning can be AI. When I was just starting to learn HTML, I would often run into errors that I would then troubleshoot with the use of ChatGPT or similar AI. Unfortunately, I soon discovered that such help can also be harmful. I would often just run my code through the AI, not really trying to understand why it did not work and where the error was. Soon, I realised that, while it helped me write code faster, the help of AI paradoxically slowed my learning. And I think that this is where the true dangers of technology in learning lie – our own laziness. It is very tempting to use AI to fix your code or write an essay for you, but when the exam (either in school or real life!) comes, it is you and your knowledge that will count, not that of the AI.
Technology is a tool like any other, and it too can be used in both the ways that enhance and harm us. It is on us to yield that double-edged sword carefully in a way that helps us. This is nothing new – throughout history, humans discovered various tools that had to be used very carefully, lest they become dangerous, from fire to medicine.