Walk down any street, enter any home, peek into any office, one thing you’ll always see is a glowing screen.
Smartphones, tablets, laptops, smartwatches, technology is everywhere. We use it to wake up in the morning, order food, learn new skills, do business, even to pray and sleep. There is no doubt that it makes life easier and faster.
But with all these benefits, one big question has come up:
Is technology really helping us grow mentally, or is it quietly making us lazy?
Some say we are now thinking faster and learning more. Others say we’ve become too dependent, we don’t think deeply anymore, we don’t even try.
To find the truth, The News Chronicle spoke with ten people from different walks of life, students, parents, business owners, a nurse, a tutor, and more.
Here’s what they had to say:
1. Ada – Final Year University Student, University of Lagos (24 years old)
“I can’t lie, technology has saved my life many times in school. If I don’t understand something in class, I go to YouTube, and boom! A clearer explanation pops up. I use Grammarly, ChatGPT, and even Canva for my school presentations. But I’ve noticed something I hardly think deeply on my own anymore. I just look for tools that will help me finish fast. Even when I write essays, I use AI to get ideas. I’m passing well, but sometimes I wonder if I’m actually learning or just collecting fast answers. Honestly, if you take my phone away during exams or assignments, I’ll struggle. So yes, technology is helpful, but it’s also making me a bit lazy. Everything must be easy now, or I’m not interested.”
2. Mr. James – Civil Servant and Father of Three (45 years old)
“In my time, we had to go to the library, ask elders, or read books for everything. Now, my kids ask Google, not even me. My daughter once said, ‘Daddy, you’re not correct, Google says this.’ Can you imagine? I just kept quiet. It’s funny, but also sad. I love the fact that they are learning quickly, but they don’t want to struggle for anything. One spelling mistake, they rush to autocorrect. One math problem, they open a calculator. Even to tie shoelaces, they search YouTube. I feel like this generation is smarter, but also weaker mentally. Too much ease can make people soft. That’s my fear.”
3. Tosin – Fashion Business Owner (32 years old)
“Technology is the engine of my business. I sell on Instagram, WhatsApp, and even Facebook Marketplace. I don’t pay rent for a shop, I work from home, and I’ve grown a solid customer base. I also use AI to generate captions and photo editing apps to beautify my products. But let me tell you the truth, I’ve stopped thinking creatively. Before, I used to sketch my designs with my hand and brainstorm with energy. Now, I just search Pinterest or ask AI to give me new fashion ideas. My creativity is reducing. It’s making me lazy in the mind, and I’ve noticed it. I feel guilty sometimes.”
4. Fatima – Secondary School Student (17 years old)
“My mum said I’m addicted to my phone, and maybe she’s right. I use it to learn, yes. Some TikTok pages teach science, English, and even life lessons. But I also waste time there. There are days I plan to study and end up watching dance videos for 3 hours. I won’t lie, sometimes I feel dumb after wasting all that time. I used to enjoy reading storybooks, but now I just want short videos and quick notes. The more I depend on my phone, the lazier I get. It’s like it’s training me to avoid anything hard or slow.”
5. Chinedu – Online Tutor (29 years old)
“Teaching online is good,I reach students from anywhere. But the downside is what I see in my students. Many don’t even want to think before they ask. One of them once asked me to help with a basic assignment, and when I refused, he said, ‘Why not just ask ChatGPT?’ That’s when I knew something was wrong. Students today want to copy and paste. They want answers without process. That’s laziness. That’s not how you build a strong brain. Tech has made things easy, but it has also made many people mentally lazy. They’re no longer curious, they just want fast results.”
6. Mrs. Ogechi – Mother and Local Trader (50 years old)
“Me I don’t know book like that, but I know what I see. My children don’t help in the kitchen, they don’t sweep unless you beg them. But they know how to use apps I’ve never heard of. My son once told me he didn’t do his homework because there was no data. In our time, even candlelight was enough to read. But now, no battery, no data, they sleep. I’m happy they are smart, but their body is weak. Even to go outside, they grumble. Too much technology is making them forget how to do things without it. That’s laziness.”
7. Kelvin – Tech Start-Up Founder (27 years old)
“I love tech, of course. I run a tech company. I believe it has changed lives and opened minds. We now solve big problems from our bedrooms. But I’ve also seen a lot of lazy thinking. Some young people don’t want to build or create; they want to use templates, shortcuts, or AI to do the work. When something doesn’t load fast, they give up. The patience to sit and figure things out is missing. I think we’re smarter when we use tech as a tool, but when we let it think for us, that’s when we get lazy.”
8. Irene – Nurse (30 years old)
“In the hospital, we use machines to monitor patients, check results, and send reports. It’s fast and accurate. But I’ve seen nurses who can’t do anything when the system is down. They forget what they were taught in nursing school. One day the computer stopped working and a young nurse didn’t know how to write a report manually. That’s scary. Yes, technology helps, but we’re slowly forgetting how to function without it. That’s dangerous laziness, especially in life-and-death jobs like ours.”
9. Ayo – University Lecturer (41 years old)
“Students today are different. They’re smart in digital ways , they know how to search, type, and present with tools we didn’t have. But they also lack patience. They don’t want to read full articles, only summaries. They don’t want to do deep thinking, they just want to Google the answer. When I ask them to explain in their own words, they struggle. Some even submit assignments copied straight from online sources. That’s not growth. That’s shortcut culture. And it’s a dangerous kind of laziness.”
10. Blessing – Freelance Graphic Designer (25 years old)
“My whole job is online, logo design, flyers, branding. I earn well, all thanks to tech. But I’ve caught myself being lazy with ideas. Instead of sketching or brainstorming, I just look for templates or ask AI. The speed is good, but the passion is less. I used to enjoy the challenge. Now I just want results fast. I’m afraid I’m losing my creative strength little by little. I blame myself, but tech is also part of it.”
From the stories above, we see that technology helps, it opens doors, solves problems, connects people, and saves time. But it can also make us mentally and physically lazy, especially when we let it do all the thinking, planning, and creating for us.
Technology is not the enemy. The problem is how we use it.
So next time you reach for your phone, ask yourself:
“Am I using this to grow or just to escape hard thinking?”
The answer might just tell you who is in control, you or the machine.
