Page: Learn More

IL Specific News Articles

Sosc Core to Institute AI Ban, Technology-Free Classrooms This Fall

Does back to school equal back to tech? Local educators, parents push for boundaries to ensure technology enhances, not undermines, education

Parents push for less YouTube, more books in schools

Thinking is part of the learning journey. Illinois State Board of Education’s new AI guidelines miss the mark

Parents argue and D97 agrees, limits needed on screentime

News Articles and Op-ed

Tablets in kindergarten, Taylor Swift in class. Is this what we want? Parents were told school devices would be educational. Then their kids started memorizing ad jingles. (free archive link: https://archive.ph/T06en)

A.I is to Be Banned in N.Y.C Elementary and Middle Schools

LAUSD Student AI Ban

iPads in Kindergarten, YouTube on Breaks: The School Screen-Time Battle

Silicon Valley Executives Are Tech Fans. Just Not for Their Own Kids

Meta to Pay Up to $17.1 Billion in Landmark Settlement Over Social Media Addiction Claims

How Big Tech Captured American Schools. Companies like Google and Microsoft have used their money, their might and their massive reach to influence nearly every step of the education supply chain. (paywall-free link)

How Big Tech Captured American Schools

In Backlash Against Tech in Schools, Parents Are Winning Rollbacks

The Battle Over AI in the Classroom

You Can't Game Your Way to A Real Education

Teachers’ Union Urges Schools to Curb A.I. Chatbots and Screen Time

The High Cost of Silent Classrooms

These kids are learning without technology in Seattle Public Schools

‘Our children are less cognitively capable,’ says neuroscientist who wants to cut screen use in schools

Why one NC school district is taking the laptops away and turning to old tech: paper and pencils

What do Students Lose When They Stop Writing? (paywall-free link)

Kids lose more than just books when school is on a screen. They don't need more digital training, they need more face-to-face learning. (paywall-free link)

Minnesota schools put screens at the center of learning. Parents say kids are paying the price. (paywall-free link)

Is tech helping or hurting? California school districts take action 

Haysville middle schoolers to no longer be assigned Chromebooks

Ed tech companies used pupil data without telling schools

L.A. Unified enacts reasonable rules for screens in schools but your kid’s school hasn’t. Now what?

Students learn less when they use tech. So why do schools keep giving kids devices?

Research

Research increasingly points to the benefits of direct, hands-on learning for students, while also raising concerns about the potential negative effects of too much screen-based activity.

Studies have linked prolonged screen use with:

Changes in brain development and vision

Difficulty concentrating and retaining information

Impacts on critical thinking and emotional development

Increased anxiety

Click here for resources on the impact of AI on children.

Articles detailing some harms of screens in children:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9933860/​

https://www.oxjournal.org/how-does-technology-affect-the-attention-spans-of-different-age-groups/​

https://healthmatters.nyp.org/what-does-too-much-screen-time-do-to-childrens-brains/​

https://www.businessinsider.com/how-screen-time-affects-childrens-brains-nih-study-2018-12

Screen use, particularly on computers, has been associated with an approximately 20% higher risk of myopia in children:

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2830598​

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39982728/​

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11186094/​

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33639912/

Screen time exposure and academic performance, anxiety, and behavioral problems among school children:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40352281/

School and non-school day screen time profiles and their differences in health and educational indicators in adolescents:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35856173/

Effects of screen time on the health and well-being of children and adolescents: a systematic review of reviews:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30606703/

Screen use, sleep duration, daytime somnolence, and academic failure in school-aged adolescents:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36787301/

Gratitude to Screen Sense Evanston, Distraction-Free Schools Policy Project, and Learning Unplugged in Wilmette for compiling some of these resources.