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Many of you, particularly if you are parents, have probably seen a video doing the rounds on social media in the past month, showing Neuroscientist Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath addressing the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation about the effects of technology on younger generations.
"Gen Z is the first generation in modern history to underperform us on every cognitive measure we have, from basic attention, to memory, to literacy, to numeracy, to executive functioning, to even general IQ," Dr Horvath told the committee.
And its all to do with the increase in them using tech – particularly in schools.
"Once countries adopt digital technology widely in schools, performance goes down significantly," Dr Horvath said.
With the increasing rollout of tech in our vehicles, could the same be said for driving skills?
The vast majority of people I know in their 20s and 30s cannot drive a manual car. That's not so shocking I suppose, given the declining number of models offered with a manual transmission and the relative affordability of automatic models now days.
But it wasn't so long ago that manual cars were the norm, and buying an automatic would set you back at least a couple of thousand dollars more. As an elderly millennial who learned to drive in the early 2000s, I remember it well.
Similarly to how my age group are the last who didn't have smart phones or ubiquitous tech in classrooms as teenagers, we're also probably one of the last to have learned to drive a manual as a rule.
Manual vs auto aside, how common would it be for young people to have ever driven a car without any sort of driver assistance? Not just modern ADAS, but even parking sensors, automatic headlights or reverse cameras?
I fear even those of us who did learn to drive in tech-free, manual cars are not immune to the potential loss of skill new tech has ushered in.
The other day, my car's reverse camera suddenly decided to give up the ghost – or at least take a little nap. I was trying to reverse parallel park, something I have done probably thousands of times without a camera.
Thing is, I've had a camera's help with this for roughly the past five years. Even though I know how to use my mirrors alone to parallel park – I had been doing so for the 20 years prior to buying my current car – I felt like I was driving blind.
It took some real concentration to rely solely on my mirrors, and I habitually glanced at the screen a number of times in the process – only to remember the camera wasn't working.
Though rules vary from state-to-state, learner drivers are still generally taught and tested on 'analogue' practices while driving – look over your should when reversing, check blind spots manually before changing lanes etc.
But we all know tech can cultivate new habits quickly, perhaps negating the adage 'old habits die hard'.
With advancements in car tech speeding ahead, are we risking our ability to drive cars made 20, or even 10, years ago? And what if the tech malfunctions or ceases to work?
I fear our society's growing reliance on technology and AI has much wider implications than we realise, and its up to all of us to not only remember and practise 'old-school' skills – but to teach them to future generations.
They may need them, they may not – but they'll be smarter, more capable and much more confident, if they learn.
Jemimah is Drive's Consumer Editor. She has more than a decade of editorial experience and has previously worked in property and lifestyle journalism for Domain, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and REA Group, among many other publications.
