Kelly goes online with Dr. Dana Suskind, bestselling author and the founding director of the Pediatric Cochlear Implant Program and professor of Surgery and Pediatrics at the University of Chicago to discuss her remarkable new book, “Human Raised: Nurturing Connection, Curiosity, and Lifelong Learning in the Age of AI.”

I’m so happy you had your “Human Raised” book launch party at Second City to see our new show Reality Detox, because that show is mostly improvised and every night, they give the show a different title. 

“Yeah. I think that the smooth lines and the frictionlessness of AI has made all of us hunger not just for human connection, but the messy DIY of real human art, you know, whether it be on stage or in the physical world. And actually, that’s why I insisted that the cover, the patch on the cover of the book, was actually made by a Chicago-based artist. And the beauty is just the imperfection. And it’s true. At the end of the show at Second City, it felt like a large relationship. We were all part of it. And it was just something to behold. And when they said at the beginning that the show that you will be part of and you’ll see, it will never happen again. And it’s exactly true. It could never be repeated.  You wanted to bottle it up, but of course you can’t. And that’s one of the beautiful parts of it. And by the way, the name of the show at the end: they called it Human Raised.” 

You quote an expert in child development who says that the ideal children’s toy is 90% child and 10% toy. 

“The truth is that the greatest gift, the greatest technology in a child’s life, is obviously their parents and their human interaction, but also understanding that so much of learning and growth happens here in our brain. And AI is now this incredible brain, and what’s clearly happening is we’re offloading onto that huge brain, right? And so even when you have a toy that promises to build your child’s curiosity and be a better alternative to screen time, you’re cognitively offloading. So, to remind people of this idea, I thought that quote was incredibly powerful. You need to start in the brain, a little bit in the toy. The more the toy has, the less your brain is getting. Brain first, tool second.” 

You note that you aren’t anti-technology, but science has shown us that in person relationship building is key to learning. 

“Children learn through relationships, just like improv. Children learn through the back-and-forth messy interaction. Long ago, the researcher Patricia Kuhl really showed that children don’t learn from screens and from one-way interactions. And she did this study where little babies were exposed to Mandarin speakers in person. And they started these English American children hearing the Mandarin sounds, but when they had the same Mandarin speakers on a screen, they learned nothing. And the reason being is that the children’s brain development has something that she calls the social gate. It only learns from other humans traditionally. That back-and-forth interaction. And it was a really powerful way for the brain to make sure it concentrated on the human teacher.

Photo Credit: Elaine Melko