Self-Published Book Linking School Device Use to Lower Test Scores Sparks Debate Among Educators

Jared Cooney Horvath self-published “The Digital Delusion” in December 2025. The book links declining standardized test scores to widespread laptop and tablet distribution in schools and argues that students learn better with paper materials and discussion.

U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on January 15. A C-SPAN clip of that testimony posted on YouTube has nearly 3 million views. He has sold more than 5,000 copies of the book each month since release, and it ranks as the top seller in Amazon’s “Educational Psychology” category.

Harmony Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House, will republish “The Digital Delusion” in August. Horvath earned a master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a doctorate in cognitive neuroscience from the University of Melbourne. He has split time between Australia and Oregon while consulting for schools through his company LME Global.

Administrators at Granville County Public Schools in North Carolina read the book before starting a “tech-free” experiment that bars laptops two days a week. Julie Frumin distributed copies to school board members at a Conejo Valley Unified School District meeting in February.

Jodi Carreon, national director of Schools Beyond Screens, said the book gave parents “a lot of credibility” when discussing device limits.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, cited Horvath as a “leading researcher” in a speech last week that called for restrictions on classroom technology. Oregon Unplugged hosted Horvath for a town hall this spring; co-founder Jody Scheer said parents now cite the book at school board meetings.

” He writes that students using computers at least six hours a day score 66 points lower on the PISA test than non-users and that daily computer use correlates with lower math and science scores on TIMSS assessments.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reported that students using devices one to five hours a day scored higher on PISA than those who used none. Horvath said that finding is an outlier tied to pandemic disruptions. Richard Culatta, chief executive of ISTE+ASCD, said the book has prompted “far more wasted time arguing about the wrong thing” and that mental health factors are more likely to explain test-score trends.

Peter Bergman, associate professor of economics at the University of Texas at Austin, noted that correlations are “very hard to interpret” and that one factor rarely explains nationwide trends. Jacob Pleasants, co-executive director of the Civics of Technology Project, said participants in an April book-club discussion were divided between endorsing Horvath’s practical suggestions and questioning his broader conclusions.

Horvath said he plans to address some criticisms in the summer edition.

He added that “EdTech isn’t failing because of outdated software or poor teacher training.