For her to say teachers have zero blame is a bit disingenuous. School age kids spend about as much waking time in school with their teachers as they do at home with their parents. In some cases more. Society as a whole is to blame for these changes. The ‘zombie youth’ phenomenon probably has some upsides as well. I can speak to the experience of a young male pre-internet and say with authority that ages 10-20 were hard, hard years for most adolescent males of that era. Having an escape and feelings of apathy might be better than what they would be feeling and getting up to otherwise.

Also, smart kids will still learn, they’ll just learn about things that interest them and at an accelerated pace compared to ‘back in the day’.