More schools cutting back technology in classrooms following concerns from parents, health experts

School districts from Los Angeles to rural North Carolina are taking steps to rein in technology use, especially among younger students, as part of a growing movement to reverse technological saturation in classrooms.

The nation’s second-largest school district, Los Angeles Unified, announced in April it would ban digital device use in kindergarten and first grade and allow limited use of Chromebooks and other devices for grades 2-5. The district also plans to reduce video-aided lesson plans and access to streaming, gaming and social media sites.

The trend is accelerating following successful efforts to ban cellphones in schools, the Associated Press reported. Parents have increasingly limited their children’s technology use at home but often could not do so at school, prompting some to push for restrictions.

Ongoing debates, including in Lower Merion, Pennsylvania, a wealthy Philadelphia suburb, are playing out in real time.

Some districts have taken a gradual approach. Granville County, North Carolina, this year banned technology on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The results were generally positive, and the district plans next year to shift the ban to Mondays and Tuesdays, NBC reported. Technology also will be banned entirely in grades K-2.

Reporter Tyler Kingkade, who first visited a Granville middle school on a Wednesday, when laptops were allowed, said students appeared more social the following day.

“With laptops put away, the class was a lot more chatty, they were goofing around a little bit more in the hallway, and several eighth graders I talked to said they really like the switch,” he said in a video. “It gives them a break, they have fewer headaches, and they talk to friends more.”

Technology was widely promoted as a solution for education over the past decade as districts purchased laptops, Chromebooks and tablets for students. COVID-19 accelerated the shift, as many schools switched to online learning. Some schools have continued to be paperless, requiring assignments to be completed online. 

But with the rise of smartphones, social media and artificial intelligence, some districts are seeking a return to tech-free learning, giving students, teachers and families a break from constant screen exposure.

More than a dozen states have proposed laws limiting screen time in schools, and the U.S. surgeon general’s office issued an advisory this month warning parents about “the harms of screen use” for children and teens.

The report urges schools to “limit screen use to support teachers and enable distraction-free teaching” and implement bell-to-bell cellphone bans, which many districts already have done.

Parents who have formed advocacy groups in Los Angeles, Pennsylvania and elsewhere cite research showing technology is often minimally beneficial and can carry significant downsides.

“If there’s really no evidence that it helps, and in fact there’s evidence that it’s harmful, what are we doing? Test scores are at their lowest point,” said Alex Bird Becker, a founder of PA Unplugged.

Cost is also a concern, as larger districts spend millions acquiring and maintaining digital devices, AP reported. Fresno Unified School District, California’s third largest, announced it will shift computer use to in-school only next year instead of allowing students to take laptops home.

One rural Michigan district banned laptops in its elementary school in February to help students improve reading skills. The Mesick school district had tried all the “normal things” to boost reading scores, the superintendent told Chalkbeat, but concluded screens were the biggest obstacle.

“When we’re competing with screens, we’re going to lose,” Superintendent Jack Ledford said.

One Mesick teacher said students adjusted quickly to reading books and that she appreciates no longer having to monitor Chromebook use in class. The district had implemented the devices on a 1:1 basis around 2015.

One parent said her first-grade son previously rushed through online reading exercises to access a reward game afterward. Without that incentive, she said, he is now learning to enjoy reading itself.

Kristina Jackson, an Arlington, Virginia, parent who is part of a group that will ask the district to “opt out of technology” and return to paper textbooks and assignments, predicted the current era of screen-heavy learning will eventually face scrutiny.

“Ten years from now, I can’t imagine us looking back with any other reaction than: How could we have been so naive that we just handed these devices to our kids,” she said.