From the Mouth of Babes

On March 21, 2026, I had the privilege of leading a session titled The Digital Wave: Closing the Digital Gap for Female High School Students at the Young Women's Conference, hosted by the University of California-Merced and Merced City School District.

Case 1: I facilitated a 45-minute workshop focused on Closing the Digital Gap for a group of enthusiastic girls from 6th to 12th grade. During the problem-solving activities, participants were given a scenario featuring a technology challenge in a particular setting. I want to share some of the questions with you, my readers.

Environmental Factor: Technology Anxiety

Situation: A student avoids tech classes due to low confidence.

Consequences according to a sixth-grader.

• If I spend time on my phone and do not exercise, we will become obese like the people on Wall-E.

• My brain gets left behind. Access shapes the future because we are going to lose skills.

• My sense of awareness gets left behind. In the future, I wouldn't know fiction or non-fiction.

Case 2: Students were asked to complete the sentence frame. A skill I want to build ____________. A barrier I want to help solve___________. I am proud ________.

• A skill I want to build is the skill to be able to work to help students rely more on AI, helping them rather than students relying on AI to do work for them. A barrier I want to help solve is the negative thoughts that people have about AI. Instead of thinking about AI as "cheating," think about it as a helping hand. I want more people to try to acknowledge it more. I'm proud that in my place that I live, I have access to AI and technology, because I know others don't. S.H.

• A skill I want to build is a math skill to help students. A barrier I want to help solve is the WiFi problem. I'm proud of coming here to learn more about AI. M.A.

• A skill I want to build is a skill on coding. A barrier I want to help solve is digital bullying. One thing I am proud of is when I can get off my phone and go out and play. T.F.

• A skill I want to build is setting boundaries when AI is involved in my school work. Example, turning off Grammarly AI for my daily writing sessions. A barrier I want to help solve is over-reliance on digital equipment, e.g., daily average phone screen time awareness. I'm proud of using AI to my benefit, asking ChatGPT to grade my essays instead of writing it for me (with not generative feedback). I.N.