The hottest Technology Use Substack posts right now

Students who use phones, tablets, or laptops for fun during the school day show bigger drops in standardized test scores in math, reading, and science.
Leisure device use at school replaces face-to-face interaction and is linked to students feeling lonelier during school hours.
Restricting non-educational device use from bell to bell, tightening laptop/tablet controls, or returning younger students to paper and pencil could improve learning and reduce loneliness.

Phones constantly split attention and create thousands of tiny withdrawals that leave partners feeling unseen, eroding trust and shrinking emotional and sexual intimacy.
Attention is a shared, scarce resource — feeling reliably reachable and responded to builds closeness, but ‘phone-based adulthood’ normalizes partial presence and makes repair harder.
The solution is practical not punitive: make clear attention agreements like predictable phone-free windows, announce when you need to check out and return on time, and address the needs behind the scrolling rather than only blaming the device.

Kids in self-directed education tend to use their smartphones for creative and educational activities rather than scrolling on social media. They engage in things like music editing, game design, and learning through simulators.
Many teens at the Macomber Center are not very interested in social media, often finding it unnecessary. They feel they have better things to do, like spending time with friends and exploring their interests.
The overall happiness and fulfillment of these kids seem to come from their fulfilling social interactions, which reduces their reliance on social media to meet their social needs.

If a child is being seriously bullied, the right move is to remove them from that environment or find a different school, not to tell them to toughen up; staying often makes things worse.
Phones in class are a major attention sink, and strict bans with real enforcement tend to reduce disruptions and raise engagement and test scores after an initial adjustment period.
Don’t automatically defer to education 'experts' — parents can use homeschooling, microschools, tutors, or AI effectively and should evaluate options rather than assume traditional schools are always best.

Schools should encourage families to delay giving their kids smartphones until high school. This helps kids focus better on their education.
Parents can help by communicating through school offices instead of texting their kids during class. This keeps kids from being distracted by their phones.
Activities and teams should not require smartphones for participation. Schools can find other ways to share information that includes all students.

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Social media is losing its value for many people. As it becomes less useful, people are realizing they can spend their time in better ways.
Feeling bored isn't necessarily a bad thing; it can lead to real life experiences and personal growth. When we stop distracting ourselves, we can manage time better and feel more in control.
Our privacy is important and valuable. Enjoying moments without sharing them online can make experiences more meaningful and fulfilling.

An AI code assistant detected a subtle data error in a major survey where one variable was overwritten, preventing a misleading analysis result.
AI tools are highly useful for routine data processing and quality control, catching problems automatically that researchers might otherwise miss.
AI works best when given specific, domain-relevant examples or code, because vague checks can produce false positives or flag legitimate, documented values as errors.

Universities must earn public trust by being institutionally trustworthy: fix internal monocultures and focus teaching on real, demonstrable skills that give students access to useful knowledge.
The true ‘super‑intelligence’ is the five‑millennia corpus of human ideas, and modern text‑processing systems are valuable mainly as translators or front ends to curated knowledge rather than infallible oracles.
Education should train people to connect to, interpret, and extend the collective human mind by teaching durable methods, literacies, Popperian testability, and epistemic humility while updating practical skills for new media.

The new cellphone policy in Ontario schools is seen as weak and not based on effective research. It's not enough to just keep phones out of sight to reduce distractions.
Even with the policy, many students still use their phones during class time. Teachers often allow this, which undermines the effort to minimize distractions.
Parents are part of the problem too. Many want stricter rules at school but still send their kids with smartphones, missing the chance to set limits at home.

Talking with others about kids being screen-free can lead to unexpected creative projects, like building a squirrel house from twigs. It's a fun way to encourage children to use their imagination.
The book 'The Art of Gathering' teaches how to host events effectively, emphasizing thoughtful planning and creating engaging themes for gathering guests. Consider making a toast or having a theme for your next dinner party.
Some European countries are moving away from technology in schools, suggesting that traditional learning methods like reading books and writing by hand are better for students. This is different from the tech-focused approach seen in places like Canada.