From Creative Tool to Cognitive Prosthesis: Generative AI, Digital Storytelling, and Adolescent Development

Davide Milasi, Rossella Marzullo

Abstract


The integration of generative AI into digital storytelling offers new opportunities for exploring adolescent identity (Talarico et al., 2022). However, the shift from creative tool to “cognitive prosthesis” entails pedagogical risks. When used mindlessly, technology may weaken critical thinking: the algorithm replaces intellectual effort, fostering passivity and inhibiting introspection (Panciroli & Rivoltella, 2023). Without genuine reflection on personal experience, affective education is compromised. The lack of emotional literacy hinders empathy, creating an identity void that may lead to deviance and social distress (Floridi et al., 2018). This paper argues that AI should be used consciously, not as a shortcut, but as a technical support for a reflective creative process, essential to prevent ethical risks and promote authentic self-awareness (Ranieri, 2022).

Keywords


Artificial Intelligence, Digital Storytelling, Adolescent Identity, Cognitive Prosthesis, Affective Education

Full Text:

PDF PDF

References


Blakemore, S.-J., & Frith, U. (2005). The learning brain: Lessons for education. Blackwell Publishing.

Bruner, J. (1990). Acts of meaning. Harvard University Press.

Clark, A., & Chalmers, D. (1998). The extended mind. Analysis, 58(1), 7–19.

Collins, A., Brown, J. S., & Newman, S. E. (1989). Cognitive apprenticeship: Teaching the crafts of reading, writing, and mathematics. In L. B. Resnick (Ed.), Knowing, learning, and instruction: Essays in honor of Robert Glaser (pp. 453–494). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., & Schellinger, K. B. (2011). The impact of enhancing students' social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions. Child Development, 82(1), 405–432.

Erikson, E. H. (1968). Identity: Youth and crisis. W. W. Norton & Company.

Floridi, L., Cowls, J., Beltrametti, M., Chatila, R., Chazerand, P., Dignum, V., et al. (2018). AI4People - An ethical framework for a good AI society: Opportunities, risks, principles, and recommendations. Minds and Machines, 28(4), 689–707.

Gerlich, M. (2025). AI tools in society: Impacts on cognitive offloading and the future of critical thinking. Societies, 15(1), 6.

Howard-Jones, P. A. (2014). Neuroscience and education: Myths and messages. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 15(12), 817–824.

Hull, G. A., & Katz, M.-L. (2006). Crafting an agentive self: Case studies of digital storytelling. Research in the Teaching of English, 41(1), 43–81.

Italia. (2025). Legge 23 settembre 2025, n. 132, disposizioni e deleghe al Governo in materia di intelligenza artificiale. Gazzetta Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana.

Lambert, J. (2013). Digital storytelling: Capturing lives, creating community (4th ed.). Routledge.

León-Domínguez, U. (2024). AI as a cognitive prosthesis: Theoretical framework and educational implications. Journal of Educational Technology Research, 18(2), 45–67.

McAdams, D. P. (1993). The stories we live by: Personal myths and the making of the self. Guilford Press.

Mortari, L. (2008). A scuola di libertà: Formazione e pensiero autonomo. Raffaello Cortina Editore.

Panciroli, C., & Rivoltella, P. C. (2023). Pedagogia algoritmica: Per una riflessione educativa sull'intelligenza artificiale. Scholé.

Ranieri, M. (2022). Competenze digitali per insegnare: Modelli e proposte operative. Carocci.

Ricoeur, P. (1990). Soi-même comme un autre. Éditions du Seuil.

Siegel, D. J. (2012). The developing mind: How relationships and the brain interact to shape who we are (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.

Talarico, M., Boffo, V., & Giampaolo, M. (2022). Digital storytelling e identità narrativa in adolescenza. Pedagogia e Società, 20(3), 112–134.

Trinchero, R. (2024). Intervento IA Trinchero ECPS 2024. https://iris.unito.it/retrieve/8bbf0560-5d3b-45cc-8e04-35648958be53/Intervento%20IA%20Trinchero%20ECPS%202024.pdf

United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. (2021). General comment No. 25 (2021) on children's rights in relation to the digital environment (CRC/C/GC/25).




DOI: https://doi.org/10.32043/gsd.v10i4.1883

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2026 ITALIAN JOURNAL OF HEALTH EDUCATION, SPORT AND INCLUSIVE DIDACTICS

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Italian Journal of Health Education, Sports and Inclusive Didactics 

Publisher: Cares srl – REN Press (since 2026). Previously published by Gaia srl – Edizioni Universitarie Romane (2017–2025).

ISSN: 2532-3296 E-ISSN: 3103-5744