Are Students Still Good Thinkers? A Philosophy Professor on Learning in the Digital Age

Dr. Jerry Green, assistant professor in the Department of Humanities and Philosophy at the University of Central Oklahoma, has spent years examining how students approach reasoning, attention, and metacognition.

His observations reveal a learning environment transformed not only by technology, but by the pressure students now feel within it.

Green did not begin teaching with expectations about how “tech-dependent” students might be, but after teaching multiple years and multiple cohorts, he began to notice clear patterns in how attention and reasoning have shifted with increased digital consumption.

According to Green, the biggest change is not that students suddenly “think worse,” but that many are overwhelmed before they ever begin to think at all. He sees students managing jobs, family responsibilities, financial pressures, and the lingering effects of the pandemic, all of which affect how they show up in the classroom.

He emphasized that before questions of reasoning even arise, students are often navigating exhaustion and anxiety. This, he explained, shapes their ability to engage with assignments, reading, and philosophical argumentation.

While the stereotype is that students today have shorter attention spans because of phones or streaming, Green approaches the issue more cautiously. He does not dismiss the influence of media consumption, but he refuses to reduce students to caricatures.

Instead, he sees their attention struggles as tied to stress, time scarcity, and overstimulation. His students often tell him they have difficulty focusing on texts or videos, not simply because the material is challenging, but because they are constantly switching tasks and contexts throughout the day.

At the same time, Green believes students still can think deeply—but only when given space, structure, and support. Much of his teaching is designed around helping students recognize how their thinking works, rather than simply giving them information to memorize.

He emphasizes “epistemic virtues”—habits of good reasoning—and actively builds metacognitive practices into his courses. He wants students to develop the ability to notice when they are confused, distracted, or overconfident, and then adjust. That skill, he argues, is more important than ever.

He also traces part of the difficulty to the way digital culture encourages rapid consumption. Students may jump from one screen to another, switching between assignments, social media, and entertainment.

The transitions create cognitive fragmentation, which affects how well they engage with long readings or complex philosophical problems. Still, Green notes that this is not laziness. It is the environment students live in—fast, overloaded, and demanding constant attention.

The pandemic remains another turning point. Students who spent formative years learning through Zoom and asynchronous materials often developed habits suited for academic survival, not for deep intellectual engagement. Green sees some of these patterns persisting: difficulty initiating tasks, avoidance of challenging readings, and uncertainty about how to ask questions in person.

None of these, he stresses, reflects a lack of intelligence. Instead, they reflect adaptation to a period that fundamentally reshaped education.

Despite these challenges, Green remains optimistic. He sees students who are curious, capable, and eager to understand the world—once they believe they have the time and mental space to do so.

His approach focuses on helping them slow down: fewer readings, more intentional discussion, and classroom structures that help them practice sustained reasoning rather than racing through content.

His work suggests that good thinking today requires not just philosophical skill, but the rebuilding of attention, confidence, and intellectual patience—traits that students can still develop with guidance.