This seems bad and sadly also very predictable
“In 2024, the U.S. spent more than $30 billion putting laptops and tablets in school. But more than a quarter century and numerous evolving models of technology later, psychologists and learning experts see a different outcome than the one King intended. Rather than empowering the generation with access to more knowledge, the technology had the opposite effect.”
https://fortune.com/2026/02/21/laptops-tablets-schools-gen-z-less-cognitively-capable-parents-first-time-cellphone-bans-standardized-test-scores/
While I admit that the use of technology for grading and the such has made some things in education easier. I also acknowledge that the students are just too distracted by all of the options that they have. Even with the use of certain blockers, kids will find a way. Always have, always will. I would not be upset to go back to paper and pencil.
I think there is a correction coming. I think we will some policies with time limits at the least, something like screens only allowed x amounts per week.
Rising Star
“While teachers may be intending for these tools to be strictly educational, students often have different ideas. According to a 2014 study, which surveyed and observed 3,000 university students, students engaged in off-task activities on their computers nearly two-thirds of the time.
Horvath blamed this tendency to get off-track as a key contributor to technology hindering learning. When one’s attention is interrupted, it takes time to refocus. Task-switching also is associated with weaker memory formation and greater rates of error. Grappling with a challenging singular subject matter is hard, Horvath said. For the best learning to happen, it’s supposed to be.”