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Who Do You Turn To?
A small experiment in asking each other first.
Nov 10
•
Mandy McLean
3
1
The New Public-Health Crisis Hiding in Plain Sight
Please read and sign our Open Letter to Protect Kids from AI Companions, and share it widely across your networks to help build public pressure before…
Nov 1
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Mandy McLean
5
October 2025
From the Attention Economy to the Attachment Economy
When machines learn to simulate care, what happens to the people who start believing them? How does something that initially seems so harmless turn…
Oct 18
•
Mandy McLean
8
4
September 2025
Six weeks back. Five capacities down.
The question isn’t whether AI can save us time (it can), it’s whether we’re efficiency-ing away the hard things that actually matter for kids’ growth.
Sep 22
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Mandy McLean
4
Hope in the Pushback Against Harmful Tech
From VR to AI companions, the risks are real but so is the momentum for guardrails that put kids first
Sep 12
•
Mandy McLean
4
1
August 2025
The slippery slope of treating AI like a person
Why I won’t be gifting my kids a Curio AI stuffy for Christmas
Aug 27
•
Mandy McLean
4
2
Why I’m Paying Attention to AI Companions
A re-share of my After Babel article on AI companions, co-published with Jonathan Haidt and Zach Rausch
Aug 14
•
Mandy McLean
One Nation, Many Feeds
How GenAI takes the algorithmic echo chamber to the next level and why it matters for how we understand each other
Aug 14
•
Mandy McLean
6
11
July 2025
The Schools We Build Reflect the Future We Believe In
In an age of AI, polarization, and personalization, school may be the last place where we learn to live together
Jul 29
•
Mandy McLean
6
AI Companions Are Replacing Teen Friendships and It’s Time to Set Hard Boundaries
From sexually explicit bots to school-burning pandas, AI “friends” are already chatting with 72% of teens. Here’s what parents and educators need to…
Jul 23
•
Mandy McLean
3
4
They Know More About AI Than We Do
Why the AI cheating crisis is really a motivation crisis and what schools can do about it
Jul 17
•
Mandy McLean
6
June 2025
The Erosion of Deep Thinking And What It’s Doing to Our Kids
How tech-driven attention habits are reshaping learning, reasoning, and the future of civic engagement
Jun 30
•
Mandy McLean
6
1
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