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The recent survey finding that nearly one in four Hong Kong students cannot complete homework without artificial intelligence is a wake-up call. The deeper crisis is not that students are using AI. It is that they may no longer notice what they are losing in the process.

Earlier this year, I facilitated a workshop for parents who are worried about their children’s screen habits. One father shared that his Primary 4 son now uses AI for every written assignment. “He won’t think or write on his own any more,” the father said. “And when I take his device away, he completely loses control.”

Professor Gloria Mark at University of California, Irvine found that the average attention span on a screen has shrunk from two-and-a-half minutes in 2004 to just 47 seconds. A 2025 study of over 600 university students found that heavy AI use was associated with reduced critical thinking.

When we can barely stay present for 47 seconds, we do not just lose productivity. We lose the ability to notice what is happening within us and between us.

This is where self-awareness matters. In social-emotional learning, self-awareness is the first of five core competencies, the foundation upon which empathy, communication and responsible decision-making are built. Without it, a child does not even realise that a screen has replaced genuine conversation. Without it, neither does an adult.