Screen time opponents target 1-on-1 devices in schools after success with cellphone bans

Personal laptops, Chromebooks and iPads are on the chopping block in many classrooms as parents and advocates look to expand efforts to limit technology in schools.

Despite millions of dollars spent by districts before and especially during the COVID-19 pandemic to give students 1-to-1 personal devices, the tides are turning as some worry about the distractions and negative learning effects from sitting in front of a screen all day.  

The fight is an expansion from those who worked to get cellphones banned from schools. Over the past five years, more than 30 states have enacted legislation that requires schools to create policies around cellphones in classrooms, with some districts going as far as forcing students to put their devices in a pouch they can’t access all day.  

But the device battle may prove more difficult due to the costs and perceived benefits by others of preparing children for a world where technology is used in almost every industry. It’s compounded by state tests having moved online, given widespread use of 1-to-1 devices.

“I think the pendulum has definitely swung way too far in one direction. COVID had a lot to do with that, but it actually started well before then, and the sort of overreliance on screens in our schools has just changed the very nature of what it means to go to school, and that’s been problematic on several fronts,” said Jodi Carreon, a leader with Distraction-Free Schools California.

“There’s a lot of districts that don’t even really have a solid handle on the amount of time and how these [devices] are actually being used in schools, so they’re sort of taking that first step of just figuring out how they’re used, how much time is being spent, and then working with parents on figuring out a better path forward,” she added. 

Many districts invested in Chromebooks and laptops a decade........

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