Episode 91: The Digital Delusion

With Jared Cooney Horvath

Available October 6, 2026

“Our children are less cognitively capable than we were at their age.” This startling premise begins Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath’s book, The Digital Delusion, and is the starting point for his conversation with New View EDU host Debra Wilson. From there, they delve into the neuroscience behind the claim, and how an education steeped in technology is changing the way students learn and engage with the world.

Guest: Jared Cooney Horvath

Resources, Transcript, and Expanded Show Notes

In This Episode:

• “One of the greatest things I've learned over my 20 years of studying the brain is, it might only take you three years to learn how to speak, but it takes decades before you have anything meaningful to say. Learning how to use a tool is easy. I could learn how to use a hammer in 10 minutes. But surely building something meaningful with that hammer is gonna take years of experience. And none of that has to do with tool training. It has to do with cognitive training.” (23:25)
• “So that's, I think, going to be the greater danger of AI is, whether or not kids use it to cheat is irrelevant. Of course they do. Whether or not it's gonna harm learning, honestly, is irrelevant. Of course it does. I don't think there's any debate about any of this. How is it going to impact our children's development of who they are, what they believe, and how they interact with the world around them? That is the scarier question to me. And that, that's the one I don't hear a lot of people talking about.” (29:24)
• “This comes not from mimicking humanity. This comes from being a human. One of the biggest metaphor mistakes we make is people think the brain is a computer, the human is a machine. Those are metaphors, baby. Nobody genuinely thinks, no neuroscientist worth his or her salt genuinely thinks the brain is a computer. We know it is a lot more than a computer. A computer is a very weak version of what we have. But people take that stuff seriously. And the scary thing is, the more serious you take that, the more you elevate technology above humanity. You start to think technology is a better form of us. Therefore, it should take over. We invented technology. Not only is it not a better form of us, we created it.” (39:01)

Related Episodes: 90; 81; 79; 78; 71; 68

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 90: The Future of Digital Literacy

With Yvette Renteria of Common Sense Media

Available May 5, 2026

So much of our focus as educators has begun to turn towards the digital space. How we can leverage technology and innovation to improve educational outcomes, but also how to keep students safe and thriving in a fast-paced digital world, are overwhelming and sometimes seemingly contradictory concerns. As the pace picks up, it’s hard to keep up with the latest information and cutting-edge research to help us make informed decisions. Morva McDonald speaks with Yvette Renteria of Common Sense Media about how her team is helping educators and parents stay on top of everything they need to know.

Guest: Yvette Renteria

Resources, Transcript, and Expanded Show Notes

In This Episode:

• “Something that I grapple with as somebody who's been an educator, like none of the adults, at least now– it will soon shift– have experienced this educational world that our kids do. Like the idea of getting to school, getting on the computer, getting online, doing some work and then, you know, pen to paper as well. And just kind of the mix of that day. And so, I mean, shout out to educators who are navigating this new space of how to teach.” (8:25)
• “One is like, this is our world. So we often say their digital life, or their digital world. And we often hear students and kids in this conversation be like, no, this is our life. Like we don't see a separation between digital life and real life. The second thing we often hear is, things are being done to us…when quite frankly, they might know more than what those policymakers or those decision makers are doing to them. So there's like a little bit of a frustration or like, leave me alone.” (14:22)
• “I sit in these focus groups and I listen to students, like I said, I'm so optimistic. They know, I think about this, I'm like, as a seventh grader myself, even my former seventh graders, the way they articulate this world is beautiful, to be honest with you. I just, I really do believe that our students, our kids will be okay. They're gonna, because they are...forming their thoughts and their opinions, and they are utilizing strategies, and they are trying things. And I do, they're even highlighting the risks and the concerns with their own mental wellness. They're downloading the apps that keep them offline. They're doing the things. And so that makes me hopeful.” (31:31)

Related Episodes

• Episode 81; 71; 70; 47; 31

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 89: Lessons from Retiring Heads

With Joan Hill and Russell Shaw

Available April 28, 2026

School leadership has always been a dynamic, evolving role, but never more so than in the past several years. As everything about education and the surrounding landscape changes rapidly, the role of a head of school requires more flexibility, tolerance for ambiguity, and innovation than ever before. On this episode of New View EDU, host Debra Wilson invites retiring heads of school Russell Shaw, of Georgetown Day School, and Joan Hill, of the Lamplighter School, to share their learnings and lessons for future heads.

Guests: Joan Hill and Russell Shaw

Resources, Transcript, and Expanded Show Notes

In This Episode:

• “I think that at our best, our schools can be counter-cultural and can sort of cut against the tide. And we have a world that is turning away from community, right? Our attention is being atomized. People are joining less things. Our schools do community really well. They give kids a model of what does it look like to collaborate, to engage with people who see the world a little bit differently than you do.” (9:53)
• “I’ve found young faculty members bring an esprit d’corps, a let's do this. It's so fun to witness because sometimes the senior faculty are a little jaded. They're a little, you know, sick around the gills, if you will, but the young faculty know that they've overcome big things in their generation, maybe more so than in any other generation at such a compressed time. Global pandemic, that was a big thing. These deep economic difficulties and huge societal changes. And they persist. They continue to get up every day. They see the joy and the hope in their students, and they want to be part of it. They want to lead it.” (26:04)
• “I watch some of the young aspiring heads want it so badly. They'll say and do anything, but man, you got to live that. And until you're able to really put one leg in the pant leg and the other and be willing to live it, and find that hill that you can all together rally around, then you become an imposter, you see? And when you're an imposter, you've got a short shelf life, because people don't want Memorex. They want the real thing.” (32:44)
• “But if you don't love the school with everything in you, if you don't feel deeply called to the mission of the school, the job is just too hard. You've got to believe in the place…These jobs, it's really hard. And you have to show up every day with this. I am doing important purposeful work. And I am going to persevere through the lawsuits and through the enrollment shifts and through the really knotty discipline issue, because I am, on behalf of this institution and mission, trying to serve some greater purpose.” (34:11)

Related Episodes: 87; 83; 81; 77; 67

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.