How Screens, Schools & AI Shape Childhood & the Future of Work ft. Michael Horn | Navigating Wealth

Long Angle is a private, vetted global community of accomplished entrepreneurs, executives, and professionals who have reached meaningful financial milestones and want to navigate wealth with peers who understand their challenges, opportunities, responsibilities, and ambitions.

Hosted by the founders of the Long Angle community, Navigating Wealth is a podcast for founders, executives, and investor operators who have built significant wealth. Each episode features a guest with an unusual career journey and deep expertise across some aspect of the economy, investing, family, health, or lifestyle.

Today's guest is Michael Horn, a leading education strategist, author, and researcher whose work focuses on how innovation can reshape learning outcomes. He has written extensively on technology in education, is the co-author of several books on the future of learning and workforce development, including "Job Moves: 9 Steps for Making Progress in Your Career", and publishes "The Future of Education" on Substack. Michael regularly advises schools, districts, and organizations navigating the intersection of pedagogy, technology, and workforce preparation.

Key Topics Covered:
• Why “wait until eighth” matters—and how Michael’s family balances screen access, iPads, and zero-phone policies while still allowing free play, neighborhood exploration, and responsible independence for their 11-year-old twins.
• A staged model for introducing screens to kids, from interactive family-mediated use for young children to structured autonomy with clear household limits as they age.
• How boredom can be a developmental advantage, fostering creativity and resilience, and why Michael sees it as a “privilege” rather than a problem to eliminate.
• The tension between social belonging and device restrictions, including how group texts, after-school coordination, and school norms influence when kids need communication tools.
• Why school-wide phone bans (bell-to-bell vs. full restrictions) are rising nationwide, and the nuanced trade-offs schools face enforcing them.
• Michael’s critique of how ed-tech was deployed during COVID, and why simply layering technology on top of the traditional class model rarely produces meaningful learning gains.
• A deeper look at experiential learning models like Alpha School, Acton Academy, and Summit Public Schools, and why mastery-based, project-driven structures can outperform conventional pacing.
• How schools should rethink AI—not as “banned technology” but as a tool for targeted skill development, and why academic integrity rules will need to evolve alongside LLM use.
• What the future of early-career work looks like in an AI-driven economy, including why entry-level roles are most vulnerable and why teens and college students must get real work experience far earlier.

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Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction
02:10 - Debate on Screens, Gaming & Kids
08:06 - Why “Wait Until 8th Grade” Works
08:51 - Boredom Is a Superpower
12:57 - Inside the New School Phone Bans
20:39 - Alpha Schools, AI & The Future of Education
26:40 - Why Teens Need Real Work Sooner
46:59 - The Care Economy & Pursuing Passions
48:31- Disposeable Income & Quality of Life
50:15 - Social Dynamics in the School System
53:21 - The Purpose of College Today
01:00 - Where to Find More from Michael Horn