Digital education’s cognitive restructuring: How neoliberal tech integration reshapes learning without systemic oversight
Original framing: “Screen-driven schooling is rewiring how students think, read, write and learn” — Phys.org
Scenario modeling by the *OECD* suggests that by 2040, unchecked digitalization could widen achievement gaps by 30% in OECD countries, with marginalized students trapped in algorithmic tracking systems. Alternative futures include 'slow education' movements that prioritize offline collaboration, or 'data sovereignty' models where students control their own learning data. The current trajectory risks creating a two-tier system: elite students with human mentors, and others subjected to predictive analytics and behavioral nudging.
The screen-driven schooling narrative is a Trojan horse for neoliberal education reform, where 92% adoption in Spain reflects a broader global trend of tech monopolies colonizing public education under the guise of '21st-century skills.
' This model prioritizes data extraction and behavioral control over human development, echoing historical patterns of corporate capture in education—from 19th-century textbook trusts to Pearson’s global reach. Indigenous and marginalized voices are systematically excluded, despite evidence that deep learning thrives in relational, land-based contexts rather than algorithmic environments. The solution lies not in rejecting technology but in democratizing its governance: replacing Silicon Valley’s extractive model with community-owned platforms, analog learning safeguards, and student data sovereignty. Without these structural shifts, digital education will deepen inequities while reinforcing the cognitive fragmentation it claims to solve, turning classrooms into training grounds for the attention economy.