Digital Captives: Reclaiming the Human Side of Teaching

Summary

In this from-the-archives episode, Bart Hoffman interviews Dr. Frank Rodriguez and Gene Tavernetti about their book Digital Captives: Helping Schools Strike a Balance Between Humans and Hardware. They trace how technology moved from a tool intended to augment instruction into something that can displace attention, relationships, reading, and meaningful learning.

Frank and Gene discuss what they have observed in schools and after-school programs, why the pandemic accelerated existing problems, and how educators can respond without swinging from unquestioned technology adoption to an equally unhelpful rejection of digital tools. Their central message is practical: schools need intentional systems that put humans, learning, and healthy technology habits back at the center.

Chapters

0:00 — Introduction: from digital natives to digital captives

2:17 — What changed for students and schools

6:00 — When technology stopped augmenting instruction

10:27 — The problem of too much digital material

14:09 — Finding balance between humans and hardware

18:00 — Adult modeling, attention, and schoolwide systems

23:18 — Practical ways schools can reset technology habits

26:00 — Screen inferiority and reading comprehension