Welcome to my personal website & Substack!

ABOUT ME: I’m a writer, researcher (PhD), and speaker exploring how AI is reshaping our attention, emotions, and relationships. I spent years working in education and technology, focused on how people learn and how tools can help. Over time, I began to see what those same tools were quietly taking away.

I’m also a mom of two kids, which makes this work deeply personal. I think a lot about the world they’re growing up in, what kind of focus, curiosity, and imagination they’ll inherit, and how we protect the parts of childhood that can’t be optimized.

I live in Colorado, where I run, climb, and try to stay connected to real things.

What You’ll Find Here

This space looks at AI not as a tool or a threat, but as a new kind of social and psychological force that is reshaping how we form attention, attachment, and identity from childhood onward. My goal isn’t to predict the future of technology but to understand what it is quietly doing to the texture of everyday life.

You’ll find essays on:
- How AI is changing the emotional and cognitive development of children
- What the attention economy is teaching us about love, learning, and worth
- How optimization culture erodes presence and how to rebuild it
- The moral frontier where parenting, technology, and psychology meet

Speaking and Freelance Work

Outside of writing here, I work as a freelance keynote speaker, writer, workshop leader, and researcher. My work focuses on how AI is transforming how we learn, lead, and live.

I design and deliver talks, keynotes, and professional development workshops that help audiences move beyond hype and fear and toward thoughtful action. My clients include educators, technologists, executives, and policymakers who want to prepare their teams to lead with clarity and humanity in the age of AI.

If you’d like to learn more about speaking engagements, collaborations, or writing projects, hop over to the Speaking and Media page, or reach me at hello@mandymclean.com.

This space is not just for reading but also for connecting. I welcome thoughtful conversation, questions, and collaboration. My hope is to build a community of people who are curious, reflective, and committed to shaping a more humane future.

If something here resonates, please pass it along!

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