You're at dinner. Your child is mid-sentence. You're nodding, but part of you is still thinking about work. You know you should be more present. What you don't know yet is why you're not. The gap is what's still running in the background, and what it costs. This episode is about the cognitive overhead that depletes presence, and what AI can actually take off the list.

This episode draws in part on research in:

• Adult-child conversation, responsiveness, and vocabulary development (Weisleder & Fernald, 2013)
• Attentional residue and cognitive availability after task switching (Leroy, 2009)
• Mind-wandering and the quality of present-moment attention (Killingsworth & Gilbert, 2010)
• Uncompleted goals, open cognitive loops, and working memory load (Masicampo & Baumeister, 2011)
• Parental responsiveness and language and cognitive outcomes in early childhood (Tamis-LeMonda, Bornstein & Baumwell, 2001)
• Responsive parenting and early social-emotional and communicative foundations (Landry, Smith & Swank, 2006)