The Algorithmic Mind

Artificial Intelligence

Kids Can Feel AI Hurting Them, They Have to Use It Anyway

Timothy Cook M.Ed. on April 26, 2026

AI is now embedded in the developmental windows when children's cognitive capacities form. The teenagers are the ones most worried about it. They are right to be.

AI is now embedded in the developmental windows when children's cognitive capacities form. The teenagers are the ones most worried about it. They are right to be.

Artificial Intelligence

When AI Provides Feedback on Student Work

Timothy Cook M.Ed. on April 9, 2026

I gave my third graders an AI ethics dilemma with no scaffolding. They rejected the proposition. The same week, a company shipped an AI agent into 40 percent of schools anyway.

I gave my third graders an AI ethics dilemma with no scaffolding. They rejected the proposition. The same week, a company shipped an AI agent into 40 percent of schools anyway.

Artificial Intelligence

Nobody Carries AI's Thinking With Affection

Timothy Cook M.Ed. on April 1, 2026

A biology professor still carries her first teacher's influence decades later. AI gives every student the same inheritance. Which creates more variance?

A biology professor still carries her first teacher's influence decades later. AI gives every student the same inheritance. Which creates more variance?

Artificial Intelligence

Adults Lose Skills to AI. Children Never Build Them.

Timothy Cook M.Ed. on March 22, 2026

Discussions of cognitive offloading often miss a critical distinction: What AI does to a 45-year-old's brain is categorically different from what it does to a 14-year-old's.

Discussions of cognitive offloading often miss a critical distinction: What AI does to a 45-year-old's brain is categorically different from what it does to a 14-year-old's.

Artificial Intelligence

AI Is Quietly Colonizing How You Think

Timothy Cook M.Ed. on March 17, 2026

When AI polishes your rough ideas, you feel understood. But recognition isn't origination, and the difference is quietly reshaping how we reason.

When AI polishes your rough ideas, you feel understood. But recognition isn't origination, and the difference is quietly reshaping how we reason.

Artificial Intelligence

The Automatic Reflex That's Killing Our Ability to Think

Timothy Cook M.Ed. on January 16, 2026

Students haven't lost the ability to work through confusion, but they've developed an automatic reflex to avoid it. Remove the escape hatch, and the ability returns within minutes.

Students haven't lost the ability to work through confusion, but they've developed an automatic reflex to avoid it. Remove the escape hatch, and the ability returns within minutes.

Artificial Intelligence

AI Could Make Intelligent People Less Smart

Timothy Cook M.Ed. on December 19, 2025

When people can choose between thinking or asking AI, they choose AI, even when their own thinking would work. The cognitive abilities you don't exercise may never develop.

When people can choose between thinking or asking AI, they choose AI, even when their own thinking would work. The cognitive abilities you don't exercise may never develop.

Education

Why Kids Can't Resist Cognitive Offloading

Timothy Cook M.Ed. on December 13, 2025

Making cognitive struggle valuable, and being human irreplaceable.

Making cognitive struggle valuable, and being human irreplaceable.

Behavioral Economics

How Platforms Can Turn Your Memories Into Hostages

Timothy Cook M.Ed. on December 9, 2025

Snapchat gave users nine years to accumulate memories, and will now charge them to keep those memories. Behavioral economics reveals why this feels like psychological coercion.

Snapchat gave users nine years to accumulate memories, and will now charge them to keep those memories. Behavioral economics reveals why this feels like psychological coercion.

Artificial Intelligence

Defending Cognitive Privacy and the Right to Think

Timothy Cook M.Ed. on November 19, 2025

The capacity to think in private has been fundamental to human development. As AI systems comprehensively capture children's cognitive processes, that privacy disappears.

The capacity to think in private has been fundamental to human development. As AI systems comprehensively capture children's cognitive processes, that privacy disappears.

Artificial Intelligence

Helpful or Harmful? The Cost of AI's New Learning Tools

Timothy Cook M.Ed. on November 18, 2025

If a browser creates "memories" of children's browsing and learning, even with parental controls, are we normalizing the idea that cognitive development needs AI observation?

If a browser creates "memories" of children's browsing and learning, even with parental controls, are we normalizing the idea that cognitive development needs AI observation?

Learned Helplessness

Why Smart Kids Keep Scrolling

Timothy Cook M.Ed. on November 17, 2025

Children have developed coping mechanisms that reveal learned helplessness. Their adaptation is evidence of how thoroughly they've accepted algorithmic systems as unchangeable.

Children have developed coping mechanisms that reveal learned helplessness. Their adaptation is evidence of how thoroughly they've accepted algorithmic systems as unchangeable.

Child Development

When Children Call Violence 'Unavoidable'

Timothy Cook M.Ed. on November 16, 2025

Algorithms make harmful content "unavoidable," undermining kids' autonomy. This is high-risk AI. Part 1: The involuntary audience.

Algorithms make harmful content "unavoidable," undermining kids' autonomy. This is high-risk AI. Part 1: The involuntary audience.

Artificial Intelligence

How to Teach Critical Thinking When AI Does the Thinking

Timothy Cook M.Ed. on October 8, 2025

When Deloitte consultants outsourced thinking to ChatGPT, they produced a $291,000 disaster. Students will fail the same way unless we teach dialogic engagement with AI.

When Deloitte consultants outsourced thinking to ChatGPT, they produced a $291,000 disaster. Students will fail the same way unless we teach dialogic engagement with AI.

Education

How to Harness Your Child's Disruptive Genius

Timothy Cook M.Ed. on September 21, 2025

Practical techniques for creating environments where creative disruptors naturally thrive instead of struggle.

Practical techniques for creating environments where creative disruptors naturally thrive instead of struggle.

Child Development

The Cognitive Skill That Makes Kids Smarter Than AI

Timothy Cook M.Ed. on September 17, 2025

When a child's "behavioral problems" reveal the exact cognitive skills that make humans smarter than AI systems.

When a child's "behavioral problems" reveal the exact cognitive skills that make humans smarter than AI systems.

Artificial Intelligence

Why Curious Kids Grow Into Unhackable Adults

Timothy Cook M.Ed. on September 10, 2025

Curiosity isn't just a nice trait to have. It's our last line of defense.

Curiosity isn't just a nice trait to have. It's our last line of defense.

Artificial Intelligence

AI Makes Us Worse Thinkers Than We Realize

Timothy Cook M.Ed. on August 29, 2025

New research on more than 600,000 students reveals why the "impractical" philosophy major produces the best thinkers and what we lose when AI does our thinking for us.

New research on more than 600,000 students reveals why the "impractical" philosophy major produces the best thinkers and what we lose when AI does our thinking for us.

Artificial Intelligence

How AI Chatbots May Blur Reality

Timothy Cook M.Ed. on August 23, 2025

New research explores how prolonged AI interactions can, at least for some users, start to blur the lines between reality and fantasy. Simple interventions could prevent tragic outcomes.

New research explores how prolonged AI interactions can, at least for some users, start to blur the lines between reality and fantasy. Simple interventions could prevent tragic outcomes.

Artificial Intelligence

When Students Outsource Thinking to AI, Brains Pay the Price

Timothy Cook M.Ed. on August 20, 2025

Students can meet all critical thinking criteria using AI while bypassing actual cognitive development. Here's how schools reward performance over thinking.

Students can meet all critical thinking criteria using AI while bypassing actual cognitive development. Here's how schools reward performance over thinking.