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no_hypocrisy

(54,239 posts) Tue Dec 9, 2025, 04:42 AM Dec 9

We Gave Students Laptops and Took Away Their Brains How Screens Hurt Learning

Are school laptops quietly damaging kids’ brains and attention?

In this video, we dig into the key ideas behind “We Gave Students Laptops and Took Away Their Brains” and neuroscientist Jared Cooney Horvath’s book “The Digital Delusion: How Classroom Technology Harms Our Kids’ Learning—and How to Help Them Thrive Again.”

You’ll learn:
Why reading and learning on screens can reduce comprehension compared with paper
How constant notifications and multitasking fracture students’ attention

Why today’s kids may be less intellectually capable than their parents at the same age [1]
The hidden costs of 1:1 laptop programs in schools

Practical steps parents and teachers can take to help children rebuild focus and deep thinking
This video is for parents, teachers, and anyone worried about what always‑on devices are doing to the next generation’s minds.

12 replies

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Highlight:

We Gave Students Laptops and Took Away Their Brains How Screens Hurt Learning (Original Post) no_hypocrisy Dec 9 OP

Is the problem laptops or the phones ? JI7 Dec 9 #1

As a teacher, I'd say both. no_hypocrisy Dec 9 #2

AI slop from a channel full of AI slop. Intractable Dec 9 #3

Perhaps, but as a I teacher, I've witnessed the same and can validate. no_hypocrisy Dec 9 #4

That channel is NOTHING but AI - it's less than 2 months old and has uploaded over 2,000 videos. highplainsdem Dec 9 #5

There's no substantial info in this video. What are you validating? Intractable Dec 9 #7

"Took away their brains" is quite a phrase to use on AI slop. There's plenty of free content from Jared Cooney Horvath WhiskeyGrinder Dec 9 #6

I just posted an OP warning people how to watch out for this sort of thing. If one AI slop producer highplainsdem Dec 9 #8

Yep, there are countless channels doing the same thing. It's horrifying. WhiskeyGrinder Dec 9 #9

I hadn't run across any earlier, but considering how those uncreative AI users on YouTube love to highplainsdem Dec 9 #10

De rec for posting AI slop. nt Celerity Dec 9 #11

UPDATE: Parents say school-issued iPads are causing chaos with their kids no_hypocrisy Dec 9 #12

JI7

(93,182 posts)

1. Is the problem laptops or the phones ?

Reply to no_hypocrisy (Original post)

Tue Dec 9, 2025, 05:17 AM

Dec 9

I do think the laptops should be more for older ages .

no_hypocrisy

(54,239 posts)

2. As a teacher, I'd say both.

Reply to JI7 (Reply #1)

Tue Dec 9, 2025, 05:23 AM

Dec 9

You just don't see students reading a book generally.

From fifth grade on up, the kids lean on their phones for videos and texting. It's addictive. And those who actually are on the laptops, insist on listening to music with their earbuds.

Intractable

(1,615 posts)

3. AI slop from a channel full of AI slop.

Reply to no_hypocrisy (Original post)

Tue Dec 9, 2025, 07:00 AM

Dec 9

Among other indications, note the repeated mispronunciation of the word "cognitive."

no_hypocrisy

(54,239 posts)

4. Perhaps, but as a I teacher, I've witnessed the same and can validate.

Reply to Intractable (Reply #3)

Tue Dec 9, 2025, 07:14 AM

Dec 9

highplainsdem

(59,939 posts)

5. That channel is NOTHING but AI - it's less than 2 months old and has uploaded over 2,000 videos.

Reply to no_hypocrisy (Reply #4)

Tue Dec 9, 2025, 08:13 AM

Dec 9

It's nothing but clickbait on any topic they can grab, and since genAI hallucinates, none of the information there can be trusted to be accurate.

PLEASE don't give this AI slop any attention.

THIS is the Free Press article they ripped off:

https://www.thefp.com/p/we-gave-students-laptops-and-took

The article is paywalled, but I found a link that worked on LinkedIn. This is from the article, which is mostly an excerpt from neuroscientist Jared Cooney Horvath's new book:

This has consequences. The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is the world’s largest standardized test. Every three years, hundreds of thousands of 15-year-old students across dozens of countries complete the exam, which assesses knowledge across math, reading, and science.

In 2012, 2015, and 2018, PISA asked students how much time they spent using digital devices during a typical school day. When those answers were compared with test scores, the results told a clear and troubling story.

The more time students spent on screens at school, the further their scores fell. On average, those who used computers for more than six hours per day scored 65 points lower than their peers who didn’t use them at all. That’s the difference between the 50th and the 24th percentile—equivalent to a two letter-grade drop.

And this wasn’t just a developing world issue. Among wealthy Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries, the average drop was even steeper: 67 points.

I have no idea whether the video you posted has that info, or whether it represented it correctly or scrambled it the way genAI always can.

But because that YouTube channel has to be using AI to create the videos, anything in them can be an AI hallucination, and they can't be trusted.