Book review: "The Digital Delusion: How Classroom Technology Harms Our Children's Learning - and How to Help Them Thrive Again" by Jared Cooney Horvath

October 8, 2026

There is a range of views on the use of screens and other technology in schools. One extreme is that they are essential to prepare students for life in the real world where the technology is ubiquitous. The other extreme is that their use is harmful and degrades the learning process by both distraction and deskilling. The truth, as with most things, lies somewhere in between.

This book falls heavily into the "harmful" position and includes some very good arguments against the untrammelled use of technology, particularly where it replaces conventional teaching or personal skills. Note that it doesn't say we shouldn't use the available tools, just that we should use them wisely and not believe everything that a computer tells us.

The first thing that needs to be made clear is that book is not just a rant by a Luddite. The author's details can be found at the end of the review and his CV is both impressive and relevant.

To get a feel for the book, here is the Table of Contents:

The problem isn't that we use these tools, it's that we become totally dependent on them with no way back if the tool fails or simply can't do the job required. It's too easy to say that everything can be found with Google of ChatGPT so accumulation of general knowledge is not required. If you don't know anything about anything, how do you know that what a computer tells you is accurate? (Me: "What is the capital of France?" AI chatbot: "F". The answer is actually correct, but the question wasn't precise enough.) Tools are meant to help and make things easier to do, not remove the need to know anything about the job. As an example, as someone who spent many years being taught and practising driving skills and also someone who spent years developing software systems, driverless cars worry me.

I have to admit that I'm a bit ambivalent about technology. I get concerned when I see the photos each week from schools showing kids poking away at iPads when I was actually learning things at their ages. I can't be accused of being a Luddite, however, as I recently passed the 60th anniversary of the first day I started working with computers and they were my career until I retired. My start was in the second-largest computer installation in Australia at the time and the four computers there had less combined processing power than my current phone (see Moore's Law). I do, however, prefer my books to be on paper (electronic books are very handy for travel because they reduce the weight of luggage, but as for audiobooks, I haven't needed anyone to read to me since I was about six) and the only reason I carry a smartphone is because even though all I want is something that lets me make and receive calls, nobody seems to make dumbphones any more. I have two phones (personal and work), I have two computers (a laptop and the main one with two screens), two tablets (the old one is used for streaming music) and a fast Internet connection. I also have a collection of CDs and vinyl LPs (I like owning the music I pay for) and more books than I know what to do with. I can still drive a car with a manual transmission and I can find my way using a map (although the GPS in my car is quite useful).

On the matter of devices tempting distraction, I started reading this book in a library with the phone turned off and getting coffee or a sandwich required packing everything up and going somewhere else. I was reading at a rate of 70-75 pages an hour. In my home office with the work and personal phones waiting to notify me of something, a computer with browser tabs open for various news outlets and social media sites and the kitchen with tea making facilities just over there I can manage less than half that rate and then only by strict discipline. If you are trying to master algebra, grammar or Indonesian you don't need something in your pocket pinging to tell you that someone has posted a cat video to Facebook or a news outlet wants to tell you about the latest idiocy uttered by a politician.

This book is highly recommended, with the disclaimer that things might not be really as bad as the author suggests although they could soon go that way if we aren't watchful and careful.

There is a copy of the book in Bathurst library and the local library can get it via an interlibrary loan. You can even buy a copy from your favourite bookshop, although you might have to go online and use technology to order and pay for it.

For a more optimistic view, see also: New research looks at how screens are actually being used in Australian classrooms - the results may surprise you with the caveat "More research is needed"

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About the Author

Jared Cooney Horvath (PhD, MEd) is a neuroscientist, educator and bestselling author who specialises in human learning and brain development. He is the creator of The Learning Blueprint, an international award-winning programme helping educators and students understand how learning actually works. He has conducted research and taught at Harvard University, Harvard Medical School, and the University of Melbourne, and has worked with more than 1,000 schools around the world.

He has published over fifty research articles, and his work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Economist and Harvard Business Review. He currently serves as Director of LME Global, an organisation dedicated to bringing cutting-edge brain and behavioral science to educators, students and communities.

(Source: Booktopia)

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