Neuroscientist Warns: Screens Are Undermining How Children Learn

The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation—chaired by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX)—held a high-profile hearing titled “Kids’ Screen Time” on January 15, 2026, examining the growing impact of social media and personal devices on America’s youth.

In this short segment we hear the testa money of Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath, a neuroscientist, educator, and best-selling author specializing in human learning, brain development, and educational neuroscience.

Dr. Horvath presented evidence that increased classroom screen time is associated with declining cognitive performance in children, including reduced literacy, numeracy, attention, and higher-order reasoning. He emphasized that Gen Z is the first generation in modern history to underperform their parents on nearly all cognitive measures, despite spending more time in school and using more technology.

Dr. Horvath argued that the core issue is a biological mismatch: human cognition evolved to learn through human interaction and analog methods, not through screens. He warned that digital tools are redefining learning to suit technology rather than the other way around, such as reducing reading comprehension to skimming short, isolated sentences.