Episode 6 - The Tech Lie Hijacking Our Classrooms

What this episode covers

In this episode of Broken Custodians, Molly and Ben Kingsley from UsForThem reflect on their recent conversation with Tom Richmond (Episode 4), and ask what it means for parents concerned about the growing use of one-to-one devices, AI and other edtech in schools.They discuss why learning depends on children thinking hard, and why the spread of classroom technology may be undermining that process: removing the friction that helps children build memory, literacy and real understanding, while promising improvements that are not supported by the evidence.The conversation also looks at international attainment data which shows that heavier device use in schools has led to worse outcomes, and the Department for Education’s plans for AI tutoring for disadvantaged pupils. More broadly, the episode asks whether children and parents have been drawn into a large-scale experiment that has not been properly justified, and what parents can do when there is no clear legal right to opt out of school edtech schemes, despite concerns about screen time, physical safety and educational outcomes.Broken Custodians follows paper trails, interrogates official claims and asks what went wrong, who benefited, and what it would take to do better.Notes: Students working on devices remain focussed on task on average for no more than 6 minutes: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0747563212003305Within an average hour they spend no more than 38 mins on task: https://www.cise.ufl.edu/~eragan/papers/Ragan_CAE2014.pdf‘The Cuckoo in the Classroom’ report that we reference is here: https://safescreens.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Safescreens-EdTech-Report-Nov-2025.pdfThe risk of myopia jumps by about 21% for each extra hour of daily screen use. For children who already have the condition, an extra hour of screen time increases the odds of it worsening by 54%. See here: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11846013/

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How long is this episode of Broken Custodians?

This episode is 37 minutes long.

When was this Broken Custodians episode published?

This episode was published on July 2, 2026.

What is this episode about?

In this episode of Broken Custodians, Molly and Ben Kingsley from UsForThem reflect on their recent conversation with Tom Richmond (Episode 4), and ask what it means for parents concerned about the growing use of one-to-one devices, AI and other...

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