The Learning Society in an Age of Transformation: A Conceptual Expansion Toward a Society That Manages Its Own Learning
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.64782/istlj.3184144-171Keywords:
Learning society, lifelong learning, age of transformation, attention economy, metacognition, cognitive offloading, artificial intelligence in educationHighlights
- Information abundance in the digital age fosters the illusion of learning rather than
- The classical learning society concept fails to address cognitive fragmentation cause
- A society that manages its own learning prioritizes metacognition, critical filtering
- Teachers must be repositioned as learning designers who foster metacognitive awarenes
Abstract
This article argues that the classical concept of the learning society has substantially lost its explanatory power in an age of transformation defined by artificial intelligence, digitalisation and the attention economy. Despite the unprecedented ease of access to information in contemporary society, a growing body of empirical research consistently demonstrates that information abundance does not translate into deep learning. Rather, it fosters cognitive fragmentation, measurable decline in critical thinking, and the illusion of learning, understood here as the widespread tendency to conflate exposure to information with genuine understanding. This widening gap between access and comprehension challenges the foundational assumptions upon which the learning society concept has historically rested. Drawing on purposive selection of peer-reviewed studies indexed in Scopus and WoS between 2021-2025, alongside policy documents produced by UNESCO and the OECD, the article offers a conceptual analysis of the epistemological, pedagogical and political limitations of the learning society framework in its classical form. The central thesis advanced is that the quantitative understanding of the learning society, which privileges the sheer volume of information consumed, must give way to the framework of a society that manages its own learning, characterized by critical filtering, metacognition, meaning-making and cognitive resilience as its defining competences. This reorientation fundamentally repositions teachers from transmitters of knowledge to designers of learning experiences. The article concludes by extending this conceptual argument to the policy domain, contending that educational policy frameworks, assessment practices and competence-based curricula must be reconfigured in accordance with this new orientation to adequately meetthechallengesofthedigitaltransformation age.
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