The Screen Time Argument — The Importance of Balancing Tech and Analog Work In the Classroom

The year is 2020, and the only way students across the world can continue their education is by connecting with teachers through a laptop or tablet. Confined in their homes, filled with worries and perhaps some justified claustrophobia, kids everywhere got used to taking lessons virtually, seeing their friends through screens, and taking school tests on a device rather than a sheet of paper. 

We all know this story and what it led to: major breakthroughs in remote learning that eventually became the norm, even when it was safe to return to classrooms. Since then, it’s become standard for students to carry a Chromebook in their backpacks and a few other less important school supplies. 

Five years later, as tech adoption soars, reading and overall math scores fail to meet expectations. While the two occurrences aren’t directly linked, many parents are seeing firsthand the consequences of too much tech in the classroom. As a result, there’s been a recent “tech-lash” in some of the nation’s largest school districts, leading to upcoming screen bans.

However, the advantages that tech has brought to education can’t be understated. Accessibility, for one, has increased and bridged gaps for students with disabilities. These tools have also supported teachers in the wake of budget cuts that removed essential help in the classroom.

Can the education sector strike a balance between analog and digital approaches as tensions rise between pro-edtech advocates and those who oppose it? Let’s dive in.

The Argument Against Screen Time in School

Major school districts have recently begun enforcing screen time bans unlike any other. The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) — the nation’s second largest school district — set the precedent, fully banning screens for students in early education until first grade, limiting its use to 100 minutes per week for students in second and third grades, 150 minutes per week for students in grades four and five, 60 minutes per subject per week for those in middle school, and finally, 90 minutes per subject per week for high school students. 

This new rule is set to be implemented starting November 2026.

Although these bans may seem harsh, LAUSD Board member Nick Melvoin says tech was implemented during the pandemic as an emergency, and its use has simply grown beyond the initial purpose, making today’s education heavily tech-reliant.

And this isn’t the only district taking action. NPR shared that, since January 2026, Alabama, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia have passed some form of law reevaluating the role of technology in instruction and assessment, with 10 other states considering similar bans.

This anti-tech sentiment has only been furthered by a screen time advisory from the Surgeon General, stating that exposure to devices from a young age creates behavioral and health issues in school-aged children. While the report acknowledged research gaps, it states that “[Our] children do not have the luxury of waiting until research is exhaustive and completely encompassing.” Ultimately, it advises parents to discuss screen time limitations in the household and delay screen exposure as much as possible.

What’s more, experiences like Katie Pace’s make it more evident that, even though parents try their best to reduce screen time at home, schools’ device enforcement makes it difficult to keep children off the internet.

The Case for Screen Time in Schools

Despite this backlash, technology advocates are calling for more moderate and slow-paced ban adoption, if at all. One of their main arguments against strict limitations stems from the lack of more thorough research into what exactly constitutes harmful and beneficial screen time.

For example, NPR also spoke to edtech executive Tracy Weeks, who expressed that broadly banning screens is rash, and that talking about screen time gets really hard because not all minutes are equal depending on the activity. 

On the other hand, Lightspeed Systems, a company offering screen time tracking for schools, released a study on K-12 students’ screen usage from January through mid-April 2026, with revealing results showing how students are truly engaging with devices at school. The company found that, although parents worry most about students’ usage of YouTube during school hours, K-5 students only averaged one minute per day on the app. 

Similarly, total screen time for elementary students averaged 35 minutes per day, middle schoolers used them for about an hour, and high schoolers neared 50 minutes. 

Although the pool of studies on the subject isn’t yet comprehensive, these preliminary figures show that school devices are being used less frequently than expected and broadly serve curriculum-oriented activities. However, for parents seeking to withdraw their children from technology for as long as possible, especially during early childhood, it’s easy to see why premature exposure to these devices raises concerns.

Advocating for Exceptions Regarding Assistive Technology

But finding a middle ground between analog approaches and tech shouldn’t be a controversial compromise, especially when certain case studies have greatly benefited from technology in the classroom. When it comes to accessibility, technology has helped meet several goals for students with special needs.

A great example of these advantages comes from the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation, a public school district with approximately 12,000 students located in Columbus, Indiana. According to a Department of Education report, students with special needs who were hesitant to engage in face-to-face discussions found it easier to do so in an online setting. 

Upon implementing Universal Design for Learning (UDL), which incorporates digital books and specialized software and websites with features such as text-to-speech (TTS), the district experienced a 22% increase in graduation rates.

Furthermore, assistive technologies like TTS and speech-to-text (STT) are also essential resources for multilingual learners, helping improve their English skills during regular lessons through oracy and interactive discussions. Today, these tools are readily available in popular learning management systems (LMS) such as Google Classroom.

These examples and many more demonstrate that inclusive education would take a big hit were certain technologies to be banned from classrooms

Finding a Healthy Balance — The Importance of Tech and Hands-On Activities

As with anything, extreme measures often negatively affect a portion of the population, and education isn’t the exception. When it comes to technology, a healthy balance with logical applications in the classroom has been shown to work best.

A study on secondary education demonstrates this, revealing that tech can enhance behavioral, cognitive, and motivational engagement when integrated into meaningful learning activities. It also takes the teacher’s role into account, reporting that the effectiveness of classroom tech heavily depends on how competent teachers are at it. Plus, active participation and student-centered approaches, among other instances, make a difference in how beneficial tech can be.

Ultimately, the study confirms that better learning outcomes depend less on digital devices themselves and more on the quality of pedagogy, teacher support, and proper student engagement.

At Quizli, we’ve also evaluated the reach of tech in the classroom and understand that when it comes to activities and assessments, teachers might want to implement paper-based activities to enhance hands-on learning. This is why we’ve been working on scanning features that allow students to use pen and paper and evidence their results in digital form, whether during a test or class activity. More on this soon!

As more tech bans take place across the country, the proper exceptions must first and foremost be made to continue benefiting those who heavily rely on it to improve their learning, which is the case for special needs and multilingual learners. It’s only in time that the sector will be able to quantify the impact of bans against tech overreliance, hopefully arriving at more balanced solutions that will positively impact learning outcomes across the board.

When it comes to ease of use and a mix of hands-on and digital approaches, Quizli is the answer. If you’re ready to experience its advantages, get in touch with our team and begin using Quizli today!