How Student Decline And Distractions Are Driving Schools To Rethink Technology In Classrooms

At a time when technology is rapidly evolving and screen time is on the rise, schools across the United States are scaling back classroom tech after early adoption efforts produced unintended consequences — including increased distractions and declining student engagement.

At McPherson Middle School in Kansas, cell phones were banned four years ago, Fortune reports. Administrators say students then shifted their attention to school-issued Google Chromebooks, using them for distractions like watching YouTube, playing games, and even teasing classmates through school Gmail accounts.

In December 2025, students had to give up their Chromebooks. The school has since moved to a more limited approach, using laptops only for specific, teacher-directed activities, the outlet reports. Now, unused devices sit in carts at the back of classrooms, while students take notes with traditional pen and paper.

“This technology can be a tool. It is not the answer to education,” said McPherson’s principal, Inge Esping, per Fortune.

Students are still able to use the laptops for additional work at home and can borrow a Chromebook from the school library, the outlet notes.

The Shift Away From Classroom Technology

School districts are increasingly starting to rethink one-to-one device programs, where every student is assigned a laptop. The shift comes as schools reassess the millions spent on classroom technology, with some studies suggesting increased tech use has coincided with stagnant or declining test scores, Fortune reports.

Maine, one of the first states to adopt a statewide laptop program in 2002, saw little improvement in test scores after 15 years, according to NPR.

In Burke County, NC — a district with fewer than 100,000 residents — the school board passed a resolution encouraging paper-based learning and limiting technology to activities where it offers “clear, evidence-based instructional advantages,” per Fortune.

By February, parents and educators shared that students had improved in reading comprehension and test scores, and were less stressed about their homework — outcomes many attributed to the pro-paper approach, the outlet notes.

Citing a report from Interlochen Public Radio, Fortune notes that a school district in Wexford County, MI — with a population of roughly 34,000 — prohibited screen use by elementary school students earlier this year to address reading proficiency challenges. At one elementary school, more than 65% of third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade students were classified as “not proficient” or “partially proficient” on state standardized tests.

Data Shows Gen Z Is Underperforming Previous Generations

As of 2024, the U.S. has spent an estimated $30 billion on educational technology, providing laptops and tablets to public school students to replace textbooks and support digital learning, Education Week reports.

As AFROTECH previously reported, the goal was to modernize instruction and enhance learning. However, neuroscientist Jared Cooney Horvath raised concerns in his testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on Jan. 15, 2025, during a hearing focused on children’s screen time.

Horvath told lawmakers that the growing reliance on screens in classrooms has coincided with declines in students’ cognitive performance.

In written testimony, he also noted that Generation Z is the first generation in modern history to score lower than the previous generation on standardized tests, despite having more years of formal education. The cohort is also reportedly the first to grow up with screens at the center of their school experience.

“A sad fact our generation has to face is [that] our kids are less cognitively capable than we were at their age,” Horvath said during the hearing. “Since we have been standardizing and measuring cognitive development since the late 1800s, every generation has outperformed their parents. …Until Gen Z, the first generation in modern history to underperform us on basically every cognitive measure.”

What Classroom Technology Is Really Doing To Students

Horvath also pointed to international data from 80 countries, noting that widespread adoption of digital technology in schools has often been associated with drops in student performance. He testified that students who use computers for about five hours per day for learning score more than two-thirds of a standard deviation lower than peers who rarely or never use technology in the classroom.

“From basic attention, memory, literacy, numeracy, executive function, general IQ, even though they go to more school,” Horvath said. “What happened around 2010 that decoupled schooling from cognitive development? It cannot be school. Schools basically look the same. It cannot be biology. This hasn’t had time to change. The answer seems to be the tools we are using in schools to drive that learning.”

The post How Student Decline And Distractions Are Driving Schools To Rethink Technology In Classrooms appeared first on AfroTech.

The post How Student Decline And Distractions Are Driving Schools To Rethink Technology In Classrooms appeared first on AfroTech.