When I started looking into tech use in America's public schools, I was surprised to find there was very little up-to-date, detailed research about whether software or devices actually help kids learn. There was also very little specific information about how much screen time students are really getting.
I was shocked because screens are ubiquitous — as of August 2023, 96 percent of America's public schools provided digital devices to their students, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. But I wanted to know about the reality behind that number — to find out how teachers were using screens and how it changed the day-to-day learning experience for children, so I started a questionnaire for teachers and parents, sifted through 1,000 of your thoughtful responses and followed up with many of you. That led to a series of essays for Times Opinion.
While this wasn't a demographically representative survey, I came away shaken up by my conversations, and persuaded that the current way tech is being used in America's classrooms isn't working. While there are certainly some benefits, particularly for kids with disabilities, the serious problems with classroom tech use were summed up well by Nicole Post, a teacher at a public elementary school in Missouri who wrote:
"It seems to be a constant battle between fighting for the students' active attention (because their brains are now hard-wired for the instant gratification of TikTok and YouTube videos) and making sure they aren't going to sites outside of the dozens they should be … It took months for students to listen to me tell a story or engage in a read-aloud. I'm distressed at the level of technology we've socialized them to believe is normal. I would give anything for a math or social studies textbook."
My overall analysis is that in the remote school era of 2020 and 2021, we needed screens to give kids even the barest semblance of an education. But when those kids returned to in-person learning, there wasn't always a thoughtful reassessment of how technology should be used.
Still, there are solutions. In the final article in my ed tech series, I explain how educators and policymakers can find effective and developmentally appropriate ways to use tech as a tool. My biggest recommendation is that teachers should drive the implementation — not tech companies.
Read the series:
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