How can schools balance screen addiction with educational technology?

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  How can schools balance screen addiction with educational technology? KGNU News

By Juliana Krigsman

It’s the start of the school year, where kids will do their learning using paper lessons, hands-on projects, and plenty of technology, including laptops given out at school. Teaching through screens is part of getting kids ready for the digital world. But this expanding use is also happening while the world is becoming aware of the distracting and addictive qualities of tech and screens.

Meta just settled a multi-billion dollar claim about the addictive quality of its products. The company is now putting more limits on its products in an effort to reduce their addictive qualities, and they’re urging companies like YouTube to do the same. And then there are cell phones. In Colorado, Boulder Valley School District had one of the earliest and strictest policies limiting cell phone use.

 Banning cell phones in public schools is now happening in almost 40 states and in over half of the nations worldwide. But what about the tech that is allowed for kids in schools? CU Boulder journalism student Juliana Krigsman wanted to explore these questions by speaking with local users and experts about public schools and tech.

This story aired on How On Earth, KGNU’s weekly science show. You can listen to full episodes of How on Earth on the KGNU archive and on howonearthradio.org.