Clicking Away Their Childhood

Ed Tech Destroying Cognitive Sovereignty

Corporations crept into public school curriculums in the West starting in the 1960s. For example, math problems inserted brand names for subliminal programming and seduction. Instead of stating “a red car goes 50 miles an hour and a blue car goes 70 miles an hour…” texts shifted to, “a Volkswagen goes 50 miles and hour and a Mercedes goes 70 miles an hour.”

Imagination was discounted. Commercialism was glorified. Sponsors started advertising on school sports uniforms, on banners in the gyms, and used their slogans in school songs and chants. “Just do it!” “It’s the real thing.” “Impossible is Nothing!” “Hungry? Why wait.”

Slowly and steadily companies imprinted demand and brand identification as part of their reach into the “ed business”. School districts benefitted from another source of income, and families were the guinea pigs for their social engineering experiments for profit.

Curriculum programming included decidedly slanted political and socio-economic prejudices starting in pre-school. While most nations in the world use their public schools systems to inculcate their country’s ideologies and values, the use of tech in schools accelerated and neurologically altered children and adolescents.

And the agendas grew more sinister. One of the aims was to manipulate upcoming generations into becoming “consumers for life” and relying on machines instead of their own human cognitive capabilities or interaction with other human beings. Parents and teachers began to fade in importance and relevance to children and students. It was too easy for them to hand over their children and students to the machines. The screens were so fascinating, so entertaining after all.

Gamification of lessons fueled a dependence on dopamine hits. Repetition using fast paced sophisticated images, videos and music drilled relentlessly into young children making it difficult for them to be still or to be without their “tech” or to enjoy being in nature. They couldn’t cope with “being bored”.

Immersion in the virtual worlds (screens) often became alluring, vivid and more attractive to students than actual life. Reliance on “virtual assistants” such as Alexa, Siri, avatars, GPS and AI became the norm for families, teachers, work places and schools in the matter of a few years.

Adults often underestimate the harm they are doing to their children and the next generation by focusing attention on screens and modeling poor social interaction skills and affection within their own families and social circles. Children constantly receive the message that they are less important or the lowest priority for loving attention and time shared. Communication breaks down earlier and earlier as does trust. You never gain the time back you lost with your children or your students.

In the last two decades, attitudes toward independence, work ethics and the satisfaction of solving problems without help were deftly manipulated. Privacy rights became irrelevant allowing companies (and governments) to continually harvest data from their “clients” into indelible data base storage.

Group think based on programs and media became the primary mediators of ‘acceptable’ narratives, values and behaviors.

“Multiple studies show that EdTech is harming children’s focus, literacy, handwriting, and reading skills. The OECD found students using screens frequently in school actually perform worse, not better. Sweden has already reversed course, kicking tech out of classrooms and returning to books, paper, and pen.”

Statistics compiled over the last decade show concerning rates of the rise of mental health problems for children in westernized countries. Numerous documented cases of anxiety, depression, neuroses and addiction in young children, were exchanged among psychologists, doctors and educators. Yes, addiction.

Addiction to the screens, to the dopamine, to the virtual world companionship and tech mentorship. Children (and adults) display withdrawal symptoms-physiologically and emotionally-if their screens are taken away. They (we?) have a become a new type of slave-a slave to tech-and therefore slaves to tech programs/programmer’s agendas.

“Only when all children in public, private and home schools are robotized—and believe as one—will World Government be acceptable to citizens and able to be implemented without firing a shot. The attractive-sounding “choice” proposals will enable the globalist elite to achieve their goal: the robotization (brainwashing) of all Americans in order to gain their acceptance of lifelong education, re-education and workforce training—part of the world management system to achieve a new global feudalism”.

Unlike tools of the past, which respond to input, AI systems anticipate, simulate, and often redirect the user before the conscious decision has been made. These systems operate as feedback mirrors that learn your patterns, feed you your own reflection, and slowly collapse your emergence into a tighter corridor of likely actions. These “tools” eventually chain you to them. You unwittingly become a tech slave.

In my opinion, it should be everyone’s concern that we preserve our humanity and conserve the essential experiences of a healthy childhood for this and the next generations. Children’s development, their physiological, emotional and neurological health is crippled by exposure to screens-especially before puberty.

There are voluminous studies on the subject and prominent neuroscientists including Dr. Susan Greenfield (UK) have spoken on media platforms, have written books and proposed legislation to protect children. There need to be more scientists, educators, doctors and policy makers advocating for our children and for our/their healthy futures.

The first legislation in regard to cyber bullying in the USA, was initiated by America’s First Lady Melania Trump and her introduction and support for the “Take it Down Act” passed with bipartisan agreement in April 2025. This is integral to her “Be Best” initiative started in 2018, for the betterment of children and the protection of their potential.

But we need more initiatives and actions for children’s protection in all sectors of society. Children are at risk, especially in North America, in many respects. However, this article is concerned with certain screen/cyberspace risks.

Even if screen access is limited or not available at home, most schools in most of the world (over 60% of countries) use screens in classrooms and/or permit cellphones in school. There is no age limit enforcement for restricted or denied access to social media platforms-yet.

There are a few countries which are trying to reverse the onslaught of tech in public places including schools. They are Finland, Sweden, Italy, Brazil, The Netherlands, Australia, Spain, Egypt, South Korea, Portugal, Cambodia and China. None of these countries allow cellphones or tablets in elementary and middle school. Some ban them through high school as well. They are trying to curb access to screens for at least the seven hours a day children are at school, although monitoring use during the rest of the day is next to impossible.

The consciousness of humanity as a whole is already being depleted, though tech companies and data lovers will try and dispute this by asking us to “prove it”. But our quintessential human spirit knows. We sense it if we are at all awake.

Many children, specifically adolescents, feel something in their lives is missing. The frustration they experience often manifests in self medicating, self harm or “acting out” against the paradigms they were born into. Many choose not to participate. They say they “don’t care” or they “just give up”. They feel no real sense of purpose. No sense of anticipation for a positive future which includes them.

In reality, it is their call for rescue from the cyber cage and virtual spaces they are pushed into by their own unconscious parents, families, teachers and other adults in positions of authority who blindly follow the groupthink to do what is expedient rather than what is truly beneficial which will require more concentrated attention, time, skill and patience.

There can be no more excuses. The kids are not alright.

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