Transcript of The One Skill AI Can't Replace - Dr. Michelle Machado

Read the full transcript of Dr. Michelle Machado’s talk titled “The One Skill AI Can’t Replace” at TEDxJesterCirED 2025 conference.

DR. MICHELLE MACHADO: I have a confession. I use technology to babysit my children. Not exactly my proudest moment, but let me tell you how I got there.

A few years ago, my husband and I made a giant leap. We packed up, moved across the world, and started over. New job, new home, new everything, and it was a lot. I had just stepped into a senior leadership role, managing a team I had never met remotely. My eldest was struggling with online school. My youngest thought I was her personal jungle gym and was clinging to me like her life depended on it. I was exhausted.

And one day, in a moment of pure survival mode, I caved. I handed my two-year-old an iPad. Just 30 minutes of Cocomelon, I said to myself. But 30 minutes became an hour, and an hour became more. And for a little while, it felt like a win, because for those few moments, I could breathe, I could catch up, I felt like I could hold it together.

But here’s the thing about those little relief moments. We rarely stopped to ask, at what cost? Because by the time my youngest turned four, I saw the change. My bright, curious, hands-on-everything toddler was now throwing tantrums anywhere, everywhere, when she didn’t get what she wanted or when she wanted it, especially the device. It wasn’t just about Cocomelon. It was the stimulation, the instant gratification that I had unknowingly trained her to crave.

Now let’s be honest. How many of you have handed your child a device, just to finish that meeting, to sit through that long car ride, or let’s be real, use the bathroom in peace?

We’ve all been there. But here’s the thing. If you’ve ever seen a child lose their patience over slow Wi-Fi, you know that this isn’t just my story, it’s our story.

Technology’s Impact on Our Children

Our story has been woven into our lives. But somewhere along the way, without meaning to, we’ve let it shape our children in ways we never intended. And I should have seen this coming. Because for years as an educator, I watched students all across the globe grow restless, become more easily frustrated, more likely to blame others rather than take ownership. And here’s the thing. I was doing the exact same thing to my own child. What started as a moment of relief for me, became a pattern of dependency for her.

And we’re seeing this pattern everywhere. According to a 2023 study published in the Journal of American Medical Association Pediatrics, higher screen time use in early childhood alters brain activity and weakens impulse control and emotional regulation in later years. School loneliness has doubled worldwide, according to a 2021 study published in the Journal of Adolescents, especially since smartphone use became more widely accessible. And nearly half of teenagers say they are online almost constantly, according to a 2024 study by the Pew Research Center.

But let me be clear, this isn’t just about screen time. It’s about who our children are becoming. Because in a world that never stops demanding their attention, the very skills they need to thrive, critical thinking, emotional resilience and adaptability are fading.

Education System vs. Reality

And here’s the thing. Our education system wasn’t designed for this reality. For years, schools have prepared children for a world where knowledge and technical skills were enough. But today, the workforce is changing fast.

The Future of Jobs Report 2025, put out by the World Economic Forum, shows that the most sought after core skills that employers are now seeking aren’t just technical. They’re human. Flexibility, resilience, agility, leadership, social influence and analytical thinking. These are the skills built through real world interactions, not virtual ones.

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Yet schools are still prioritizing knowledge over connection. Not because educators don’t care, trust me, we do, but it’s because our world has changed faster than the system has. And the result? Young graduates entering the workforce academically trained, but underprepared for real world challenges.

How many of you have come across young people in your life that struggle to cope with stress in high pressure environments, to navigate difficult conversations, or to work collaboratively in teams, especially when there are differences of opinion?

AI can replace many things, but it cannot replace raw, authentic human connections, which is why these skills matter now more than ever. If we want to create a world where our children thrive, we must engage with intention in how we rethink education, not just as a system that delivers knowledge, but as a platform for fostering connection.

Samantha’s Story

And to help you understand why this matters, let me tell you a story about a student I once met. Samantha, she was 18, bright, creative, full of potential. She arrived at university eager to explore and grow, or so I thought. But in reality, Samantha was terrified. She was unsure how to approach and connect with people she never knew in a new environment.

When I asked her, “Have any of your high school friends joined you at the university?” Her response was, “Most of my friends are online.” When I spoke to her about how to connect with others, she brushed it off. Professors tried to check in, but she said, “I’m okay.”

It turns out in reality, Samantha has spent upwards of 10 hours a day on social media. And so when she joined university, that trend continued. Sleep became an afterthought. In the morning, she showed up to class exhausted and detached. When classmates asked her to grab lunch, she responded with, “Maybe next time.” When her parents called to check in on her, she let the phone ring. It was easier that way.

Many in her class thought that she was just the introvert, the quiet one, the awkward one. But beneath it all, Samantha had never felt more alone. So alone that she didn’t know how to cope. And over time, she started to miss classes, even exams. And one day, she reached a breaking point. She was diagnosed eventually with severe anxiety and depression, and was forced to take time off of university to deal with the problem she so desperately needed help with.

Now, I want to ask you, if this is your child, your grandchild, your loved one, your student, how would you feel? What would you do?

The Dopamine Cycle

If technology is designed to connect us, why are so many young people feeling so alone? It’s because more connection in the virtual world creates more disconnection in the real world. Technology is rewiring our brains, especially the developing brains of our children. And at the center of it is dopamine.

I’m sure you’ve heard of it. It’s our brain’s natural reward chemical. It fuels motivation, pleasure, the urge to seek more. But the part of the brain that’s responsible for saying, “that’s enough,” the prefrontal cortex, which controls impulse regulation and decision making, isn’t fully developed until the mid-twenties.

So what happens when a young mind gets hooked on instant rewards? Well, every like, every notification, every video they watch, pulls them deeper into a cycle because it delivers a tiny dopamine hit. The more they watch, the more they crave. And this is no accident because social media was designed to keep us hooked. Their targeted algorithms are like invisible puppet strings, overstimulating our brains and keeping us locked in.

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The Tech Disconnection Cycle

And eventually what happens is it becomes a habit, a cycle. What I call the tech disconnection cycle, where overstimulation of technology leads to dependency, the need to constantly check our notifications and be online. Where dependency leads to isolation, kids spending hours glued to devices. And where dependency leads to disconnection, where genuine relationships, the kinds that foster patience, trust, empathy, resilience, are slipping away.

And what’s worst is this disconnection for our young minds actually shapes their inner narrative. It turns self-doubt into a constant companion, comparison into a daily battle, and perfection into an impossible standard. It isn’t just the algorithms that harm them, it’s the stories they start to tell themselves. “I’m not good enough, I’ll never measure up, I don’t belong.” These aren’t just thoughts for so many young people, they become core beliefs that follow them into adulthood, that shape the way they see themselves, their relationships, and their place in this world.

Social media was designed to connect us, but no amount of likes and followers can replace the depth of a real conversation, or the feeling of true belonging.

So how do we change this? Well, it’s not just about limiting restrictions, or limiting exposure, because that is part of the solution. Technology is part of our world. It’s about redefining connection. Education must evolve to prioritize connection as a core competency, because the future of education isn’t just about what our children learn, it’s about who they become. We don’t need to abandon math or science and literacy, but we need to integrate something just as essential.

What I call the human connection framework has three pillars. Connection to self. If young people don’t know how to navigate their emotions, or their minds, how can they navigate this world? But what if we taught them that emotions last 90 seconds before we reinforce them with our thoughts? Dr. Jill Bolt-Taylor calls this the 90-second rule, a simple tool to stop emotional spirals before they start. Because when students learn to connect to themselves, they’ll build confidence, resilience, and a rock-solid mindset.

The second pillar is connection to others. We are wired for human connection, but today’s generation are more comfortable texting rather than talking, more fluent in emojis than in face-to-face conversations. But the skills of connection, collaboration, and conflict resolution aren’t automatic, they’re learned.

So instead of individual assignments, how about we integrate more team-based problem solving into every single subject? Ones where students have to learn how to listen actively, make eye contact, respond with empathy, and work together as part of a team towards one common goal. Because when students learn to connect to others, they won’t just work well in teams, they learn to lead it.

And my third pillar is connection to the world. Today’s youth have access to the world at their fingertips, but do they know how to question it? In a world where misinformation spreads faster than the truth, critical thinking isn’t optional, it’s essential.

So what if we pull the curtain back on the attention economy to show why their feeds are curated the way they are? What if their assignments involve fact-checking AI-generated answers so that they start to think, is this real? Is this biased? Is this accurate? What’s missing? Because when students learn to connect to the world, they won’t just passively consume information, they’ll actively shape it.

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Making Changes at Home

And this brings me back to my daughter. Two years ago, I had the realization the iPad wasn’t the problem, technology wasn’t the problem, the problem was how I had conveniently used technology as a quick fix to replace connection. I couldn’t go back and change what had happened with Samantha, but in my own home, I had a choice.

So I began making small shifts. I educated my daughter in ways that she could understand why too much screen time wasn’t good for her brain. I created more space for real connection, playdates, storytelling, games. I let her be bored. Instead of constantly filling her day with activity after activity, I let her creative imagination take over and I let her feel uncomfortable with being bored.

And finally, every night, we sat in stillness. No devices, just quiet time, deep breathing to calm her nervous system. This wasn’t easy at first, but patience is a skill I cultivate in her even till today.

But at almost six years old, I see the difference. She chooses playtime over screen time. When I do ask her to hand me back the device, she does so willingly, recognizing that screens are a part of life, not the center of it. But this change didn’t happen overnight. It happened in small daily ones, and that’s what we need in education.

Creating Change in Education

Too many young people today are struggling, disconnected, unseen, overwhelmed by a world that moves too fast, demands too much, and never lets them pause. But when we add the human connection framework and integrate it as the core part of education, we can change the story.

The world has changed, so now it’s time for education to catch up. This isn’t just about adding to another full plate for educators. It’s about rethinking how we prepare students not just for exams, but for life.

As a parent, I once thought a screen was just a moment of relief. As an educator, I once thought students will just adapt. But the truth is, we cannot expect our children to thrive in a tech-driven world if we don’t teach them how.

At the end of it, this isn’t just about education. It’s about the future of our society. Do we raise a generation fluent with technology, but disconnected from themselves and from each other? Or do we reinvent education to ensure that technology enhances, not replaces, what makes us human?

The path we choose will define the next generation. But if we don’t act now, the cost is not going to be just in our schools. It will be in our homes, in our workplaces, and in the very fabric of society.

So I leave you with this. How can you implement the connection framework into your life, into your classroom, into your workplace? Because real change doesn’t need policy. It begins with us. Thank you.

Transcript of The One Skill AI Can’t Replace – Dr. Michelle Machado