https://www.reddit.com/r/education/comments/1j7kjy9/too_many_screens_in_early_education/
created by Fun_Emergency_2361 on 09/03/2025 at 23:14 UTC
164 upvotes, 30 top-level comments (showing 25)
Laptops, smart boards. I am really troubled how much of my son’s elementary school curriculum is taught via laptop and “smart boards” (ie, TVs).
This cannot be an effective way for children to learn.
We need notebooks, textbooks, white/blackboards, pens and pencils, etc.
Because I’m a Luddite? no. Because physical media, writing especially, are more effective in triggering memory and retaining information. It instills a discipline and a foundation that then makes digital tools (and they are TOOLS) accelerators later in their educational careers.
I understand teacher find laptops easier for grading and tracking progress. I buy that from an administrative standpoint, but cannot be at the expense of more effective learning.
This is an opportunity for a company to offer a paper based curriculum with digital tooling to ease administrative stuff (AI assisted OCR to grade, tracking tools, etc)
Comment by Locuralacura at 10/03/2025 at 00:43 UTC
37 upvotes, 2 direct replies
I insist on my 2nd grade students writing, reading, cutting, coloring, drawing, braiding, and building. My classroom is loud, busy, and engaging.
Comment by UnableAudience7332 at 09/03/2025 at 23:34 UTC
48 upvotes, 5 direct replies
I agree. I teach 7th grade and a good many of them don't even know HOW to write with a pencil.
Comment by MediocreKim at 09/03/2025 at 23:56 UTC
20 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I agree. But, our districts don't fund paper consumables or physical media anymore.
Comment by Comeoneileen1971 at 10/03/2025 at 00:11 UTC
40 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Oh, the teachers didn't decide to do it this way.
Comment by sortasahm at 10/03/2025 at 02:03 UTC
8 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I have been subbing to prep for going into a teaching residency next school year and I was just talking to my husband about this!!
I learn better by actually writing my notes and drawing stuff, computer stuff seems so detached. A professor once told me that physically writing notes and diagrams creates more brain pathways which help in retention and recall, too.
Also, when i sub middle school I’m pretty confident at least half the kids are on games and just switch when i walk by, i would have thought there would be some kind of game block but there’s not, because i have definitely caught many students on games. It seems, to me, the laptops are more of an issue than a benefit.
Comment by ato909 at 10/03/2025 at 00:39 UTC
17 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I agree on the personal devices, but having a smart board is great. It gives you access to so many more books and the kids can actually see the words and follow along. You can project resources so everyone can see, and mark them up. Use digital manipulatives to model so all students can see them.
Comment by Western-Watercress68 at 09/03/2025 at 23:51 UTC
13 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I am so afraid the ship has sailed on this one. Our district doesn't buy physical textbooks anymore. Middle school and up do attendance through an app, or you have to swipe your id card and the teacher's station.
Comment by fumbs at 10/03/2025 at 00:17 UTC
12 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I prefer the smart boards to the whiteboard but the reliance on the Chromebook is frustrating. I see much better retention with physical media and better engagement.
Comment by itsmurdockffs at 10/03/2025 at 01:17 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I agree and this is why I have started teaching my students how to slow down and write notes on everything. They even do question/ answer analysis with online assessments, using hand written notes.
Comment by stockinheritance at 10/03/2025 at 18:47 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Screens should be like operating a car. Something we should all learn to do one day, but should be completely denied until one develops to a certain point. With maybe an exception for teaching to code or how to plug up a motherboard. Those are practical skills that can help them in life. I don't need any screens to teach high school English effectively.
Comment by Bawhoppen at 09/03/2025 at 23:56 UTC
5 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Totally correct. Screens are dumb, and the people who subscribe to the need for the new shiniest way of doing things, are usually people who are out of touch, like top administrators.
Sometimes (actually most of the time), the old ways are better.
Comment by earthgarden at 10/03/2025 at 01:09 UTC
6 upvotes, 1 direct replies
You can easily offset this by allowing no screens at home for him. Are you willing to do that?
Comment by AMofJAM at 10/03/2025 at 01:09 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Couldn't agree more. We need to make screen time an elective and bring back the simplicity of learning that builds long-term skills.
Comment by djcelts at 10/03/2025 at 10:14 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Any research to back this up?
Comment by DrummerBusiness3434 at 10/03/2025 at 18:15 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I agree, but the same way so many adults are addicted to their phones, many feel that new gimmicks are great.
Comment by Critique_of_Ideology at 10/03/2025 at 21:37 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
As a high school teacher I agree and I was pretty taken aback seeing how many elementary classrooms are run and how much screen time younger kids are getting. Personally I focus better when I have physical pages in front of me and don’t have access to a web browser so I would imagine that would extend to kids too, but I don’t work in those environments.
Comment by unclegrassass at 10/03/2025 at 04:24 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
How would you know? Do you teach at your child's school?
Comment by MathMan1982 at 10/03/2025 at 01:23 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I agree as there should be a minimum requirement some form of assessment on no electronics on certain assignments. In our high school we do most of the homework online but tests are on paper without computers. I think maybe 80 percent computer and 20 percent without, like tests or assignments with no electronic devices.
I think it's due to the fact that most jobs now require mostly computers and we want the kids to be ready. I heard next year I think we even have to start giving our tests online. All classes in college require a good amount of work done on online platforms as well.
Students now can do their entire schooling online as well, with no pen or paper things unless they have to be uploaded.
Our school only provides "e texts" for most courses unless people check out a book in the library for things like literature books. There is one teacher who still uses a textbook for foreign language classes but that's about it.
At least they are adding lockdown browsers with cameras (to monitor while tests are being taking). Different times now as we can say:)
Comment by quizzicalturnip at 10/03/2025 at 02:44 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
r/lowscreenparenting is the sub you want.
Comment by greatauntcassiopeia at 10/03/2025 at 05:51 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
The state test is on the computer so they have to teach the kids how to use it
Comment by Bannedwith1milKarma at 10/03/2025 at 07:57 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I'll target your problem with the 'smart boards'.
That's an opportunity to make class goals and introduce learning much easier with conjuntion with the teacher.
For the rest of it, I loved mini whiteboards as an ability to risk take with a quick self wipe to not worry about a failure.
Comment by ResponsibleEmu7017 at 10/03/2025 at 09:08 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I worked in an area where all kids primary learned literacy on tablets. When I got them in middle school, they couldn't write by hand to save their life. Allowing those middle schoolers a digital option didn't do much to improve the content or quality of their writing, although it did make it a bit more legible.
Comment by MaryKMcDonald at 10/03/2025 at 14:36 UTC*
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Stop being a bunch of Fansican Monks, no child should want to live like this and not learn anything from an outdated nationalist propaganda textbook 📕. If you want kids to learn something use screens or even playtime and engagement with children instead of demonizing how they play games and live in a world that is scary and dangerous. There are plenty of age appropriate activities and even comic books that do addresses a lot of deep philosophical questions and issues like Calvin and Hobbs, Peanuts, Astro Boy, and even Mister Rodger’s, Bill Nye, and The Magic School-bus are way better than handing a child a hard copy of Flowers for Algernon or Animal Farm when they are in Middle School instead of Middle Earth.
Also if you really want to know about the Luddites. They fought corporate politics and power rather than blaming a machine for all their own problems like many of you are doing right now. Many of them did use a lot of the new technology people made but we’re against it when industrial robber barons owned all the tools that people needed leaving people in poverty.
Comment by Njdevils11 at 10/03/2025 at 15:02 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I teach technology to K2 students and part of my job is also trading teachers on how to use tech in the classroom. While I understand the sentiment of your post and largely agree with it, this is also a more complicated and nuanced issue.
No. Definitely not. I’ve even advocated for less in k-1 in my school.
But *are* they using computers for most of their assignments? Not
To me this is reactionary. COVID and other societal upheavals forced everybody into a crazy tech necessary environment. It was ludicrous, but it was all we had. Now we’re a few years out and we’re trying to figure out what can stay from that and what should go. A not small subset of teachers (in my anecdotal experience) are experiencing an emotional rubber band snap. They want to go all the way back to “the good old days.”
This is where nuance really takes the reins.
-Cost: tech is multipurpose and reusable. Is it cost effective for everything? No. But there’s a lot that it’s great for. Printing costs are *astronomical.* trust me, I help manage our printing budget. It’s insane.
-Effectiveness: Depending on how it’s used, absolutely. Tech can help build schema in all levels of learners. It’s a universal tool. Using puctures, videos, font, color, format, etc allow for customization of information delivery. They give teachers a more effective way to highlight what’s most important.
-Democratization of learning. High learners can pursue deeper information, ESL students can get translations, SpecEd students can watch or listen to videos, and every other type of learner can interact where they need.
-**Most importantly**, IMHO, technology isn’t going anywhere. Save some apocalyptic event, when kids turn to adults and enter the world, it’s only going to be MORE technology dependent. They need to learn how to interact with and use that technology. If we don’t teach them, it will be left to parents and the randomness of their social network. Parents struggle just to get dinner out on time, if it’s left to just them I worry students won’t understand how to use tech academically.
Comment by Jasper_Gwyn at 10/03/2025 at 15:09 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I agree, my daughter goes to a Waldorf school were there practically no screens until highschool