Educators should judge edtech by engagement and learning outcomes rather than how much time students spend in front of screens, one expert argues.
Last month, the Los Angeles USD became the first major district to restrict screen time in schools, a trend gaining momentum nationally as a new component of digital literacy.
Instead of banning screens, educators must teach students to navigate technology and the online world, says Jamie Nunez, senior manager of outreach and training at Common Sense Media. This includes guidance on using artificial intelligence.
“There needs to be an understanding about how kids are accessing information and evaluating that information,” he says. “Media literacy, information literacy and, I would add, AI literacy—the ability to understand a tool like AI and what its outputs are—are just as important.”
Between 2015 and 2021, teenagers spent an average of 8 hours, 39 minutes behind a screen, according to a 2021 Common Sense Media report. Of course, not all of that screen time occurs at school.
“Do we have a specific digital tool addiction in America? Yes, we do–schools are not the reason, not even close,” LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said at a September board meeting. “Parental responsibility is very much part of this equation.”
Carvalho dismissed parents’ concerns about their child’s screen time as “newly informed privilege,” NBC News reported. Carvalho has since been placed on paid leave amid allegations of ties with AllHere, a failed tech company the district partnered with to create a multi-million-dollar chatbot that also flopped.
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Edtech companies are also part of the equation, argues Nunez. Some have “overpromised” on their products’ ability to deliver certain results.
“There’s a real need to hold edtech companies accountable to the outcomes of their tools,” he says.
District leaders must double down on instruction that prioritizes learning over technology and the “new and shiny tool” that is supplementing instruction.
Still, there are merits to what LAUSD is doing to limit screen time. Other leaders can do the same by ensuring regulations are age-appropriate. “We need to enforce those digital literacy skills as early as second, third and fourth grade,” he says.
Transparency is a better course than outright bans, which stifle innovation. Superintendents should tell teachers, students and families why each edtech tool is being used and how it advances learning, Nunez adds.
“There is some merit to having restrictions on things like social media in school or phones and other devices,” he says. “But I don’t think that goes far enough. We need to be thinking more critically about those uses. Are we preparing kids to use tools like AI in a critical manner instead of simply going back to pen and paper?”
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