Ten years ago, while teaching fourth grade at Glenwood Elementary School in Chatham, I embarked on a novel website: Mystery Location. Through Mystery Location, my class joined a class in California via Skype. Each class gave geographic clues to the other as to our locations. It was so exciting! The activity embodied the true wonder of what technology could bring to a classroom. Our world was expanding. The educational tech revolution was upon us and schools were all in.
Over the next decade, home screen use increased and tech companies were eagerly invited into the classroom. Now, as the Chromebook approaches its 15-year milestone, we are having the collective realization that our schools rely too heavily on technology, much to the detriment of our students.
As a teacher, I witness the incredible hold electronic devices have on students. And who can blame them? With every bell and flash, our kids experience a hit of dopamine. Anything less stimulating feels like a letdown.
Educational technology promised a world where kids would be able to explore their interests. Typically, though, most apps and websites are devoted to the act of practicing, or what Rebecca Winthrop and Jenny Anderson, authors of The Disengaged Teen: Helping Kids Learn Better, Feel Better and Live Better, refer to as “adaptive and personalized learning.” This is not the same as exploring. This is simply a replacement for rote practices that already exist, like flashcards.
Some schools require teachers to set aside time for certain personalized apps and websites. However, this is not the only screen time that students experience while at school. Depending on where the child receives instruction, students may use a device during free time, inside recess and during before- and after-school programming. Let’s not forget that many young students use an iPad to entertain themselves on bus rides, too.
In March, Common Sense Media released the results of a nationally representative survey of parents on screen time use. The results indicated that children ages 5-8 are spending an average of 3 hours and 28 minutes per day engaging with a screen. This could include television, mobile devices or video games. On average, boys spend about 30 minutes more time per day than girls and low-income children spend nearly twice as much time as those in higher-income households. This is where the true digital divide is taking place.
Of course, there are many ways that students can use technology to explore their world. Unfortunately, though, even students with strong executive functioning skills struggle not to toggle back and forth from their interests and the junk that lives on the periphery – YouTube shorts, Google Doodles, etc. There is nothing inherently wrong with these sites but they serve as attention stealers. The simple fact of their availability in schools keeps our students in a state of what Linda Stone, a former Apple and Microsoft executive, calls “continuous partial attention.” True learning involves deep thinking and sustained attention.
What should a school district do? First, it must take a step backward while assessing the effectiveness and impact of its current technology use. It must answer the questions: What are the impacts on student achievement, mental well-being and attention span?
While the district is performing a tech evaluation, it should return to a cart of devices in every classroom, rather than assign each student a device that is for school and home use. The original thought was devices at home would equalize an uneven playing field between students with access to technology and those without. However, Census data from 2023 indicates that four out of five households with children own tablets. At the moment, the digital divide is between children who have limits on their technology use and those who do not.
Deciding on the right strategies for the upper grades can be more difficult. Post-COVID, many secondary teachers utilize Canvas, an online learning platform used to deliver instruction to students. Many new curricula are solely delivered electronically. Districts have little control over curriculum that has been recently purchased. Moving forward, though, districts can make a move toward instruction that lives mostly in a real-world space.
The research and our experiences lead us to ask, what is the overall impact of screen time, both at home and school? We know that screens can impact everything from sleep to creativity. What does this mean for our society?
Up until the last 10-20 years, childhood was play-based. Now, it is screen-based. Our children and our society are paying the price. It is not inevitable, though. We can take a step back and give our children the tech break they deserve.
Melissa Hostetter is a science teacher at Franklin Middle School and serves on the executive committee of the Springfield Education Association. She presented about classroom technology use at the May 19 Springfield District 186 School Board meeting.