蜜桃影视

Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for 蜜桃影视 Newsletter

With more parents pushing for limits on screen time in the classroom, Vermont state Rep. Rob Hunter, a Democrat, wants to make it easier for them to opt their children out of using laptops and iPads.  

He co-sponsored this year that would give parents an ed-tech 鈥渞ight of refusal.鈥� A former English teacher, he was never a fan of the shift toward every student having their own laptop. Technology, he said, isn鈥檛 making students any smarter.

鈥淚n fact, we know it鈥檚 making them dumber,鈥� he said, expressing a view shared by parents across the country, especially those with students in the elementary grades. 

When his fellow lawmaker Rep. Leanne Harple read the bill, she imagined how tough it might be for teachers to accommodate such requests. An English teacher herself, she also speaks from experience. Her students do research online, where the information is more up to date than in books and academic journals. A 2024 American Federation of Teachers showed 83% of teachers use technology in the classroom daily.

The bill 鈥渨ould create, in some cases, a lot more work,鈥� she said. For every assignment, teachers would 鈥渉ave to create an alternative that鈥檚 completely analog.鈥�

Their opposing views on the topic reflect a growing national debate. Parents who advocated for bell-to-bell cellphone bans are now targeting Chromebooks and other ed tech. Influenced by researchers like Jonathan Haidt and Jared Cooney Horvath, who argue that cellphones and classroom technology have harmed students鈥� development, they鈥檝e mobilized in Facebook groups. They鈥檙e demanding pencil-and-paper assignments and asking teachers to excuse their kids from computer-based math and reading apps. Their pleas have sparked pushback from districts that for years have relied on technology for everything from curriculum to testing.

鈥淚n August, almost no one was talking about this, and now I’m having no other conversations,鈥� said Kelly Clancy, a mom of three in South Brooklyn, New York, who also serves on her local community education council. 鈥淭here’s a sea change in parents realizing that they don’t want their kids in front of screens.鈥�

She鈥檚 among those challenging the New York City schools鈥� use of digital programs. She refused to let teachers enter her kids鈥� work into , an AI tool from the curriculum company HMH that generates feedback on student writing. But when she tried to opt her children out of i-Ready, a widely used testing program from the company Curriculum Associates, she met resistance. The tests are a 鈥渂aseline component鈥� of the district鈥檚 assessment system, David Pretto, superintendent of District 20, wrote in an email. Her school鈥檚 principal, he said, 鈥渋s not in the position to exclude your child from universal screening.鈥�

Clancy didn鈥檛 take no for an answer. 

鈥淲e will get legal advice if necessary, but my children will not complete these,鈥� she wrote back.

In a statement, the district said any tool using student data 鈥渕ust undergo a rigorous 鈥� review process to meet strict privacy, security and compliance standards before it is approved for use.鈥� Officials urged parents to contact local schools with their concerns.

Across the country, the Seattle Public Schools has advised staff that 鈥渇amilies may not opt out of district-adopted digital curriculum,鈥� but a spokesperson for the district told 蜜桃影视 that 鈥渢his is an evolving landscape,鈥� and 鈥渨e will continue to review and update the guidance as needed.鈥�

Parents in Pennsylvania鈥檚 Lower Merion School District are also determined to keep their students off Chromebooks at school. 

鈥淭hey鈥檙e saying we can鈥檛, but we鈥檒l find a way,鈥� Yair Lev, a parent of two, said after a last month in which Superintendent Frank Ranelli said opting out wasn鈥檛 possible because the curriculum is computer-based.

Teachers, Lev said, are caught in the middle. He collected from five teachers, who said students often access gaming sites and YouTube during class, and even make video calls to students in other classrooms.

鈥淭here should be clear districtwide policies and parameters for when laptops should and should not be used, rather than leaving major decisions to classroom-by-classroom discretion,鈥� one wrote.

Not 鈥榦ur best moment鈥�

Lev, a cardiologist and professor at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, said he鈥檚 not opposed to technology. He consults for cardiology startups using AI and has taken the lead on AI use in his division at the hospital. But he and his wife realized that 鈥渒ids are being exposed to a lot of screens, and we decided to try to reduce it at home.鈥�

In some ways, he represents many of the parents pushing for tech opt outs. His children are young, and they鈥檙e starting school at a time when Haidt, a social psychologist, that cellphones and social media have harmed children鈥檚 mental health. Lev鈥檚 kids are also beginning their education after the pandemic, when parents are demanding more say over what鈥檚 taking place in the classroom and data breaches have compromised student privacy.

鈥淭he image of technology in schools that鈥檚 seared into every parent’s mind is the lockdown version of technology. It wasn’t our best moment,鈥� said Joseph South, chief innovation officer at the International Society for Technology in Education, which merged in 2023 with ASCD, a major curriculum organization. 

Until the pandemic, Elyssa East, a New York City mom, was raising her son screen-free. That became impossible during school closures. Around the same time, she learned that he had some learning difficulties and would 鈥渞eally fall apart when it came to any instruction on the screen.鈥�

Online math programs like Zearn and IXL made him feel 鈥渄efeated,鈥� she said, because they were assigned for remediation. 

鈥淗ere is this technology that’s supposed to help him, but it makes him feel even worse than a human teacher would,鈥� East said. 

She eventually switched him to a private school. She has opted him out of math apps and he writes on an old electric typewriter.

鈥嬧�嬧�滺e likes that a lot,鈥� she said. Compared to a laptop, 鈥渋t’s a totally different experience.鈥�

鈥楥aught in the crossfire鈥�

Some teachers have no problem with .

Dylan Kane, a seventh grade math teacher in Lake County, Colorado, near Aspen, went . Students, he wrote, are more focused, are completing more work and spend less time 鈥渇ussing with logistics,鈥� like connecting to the internet or forgetting their Chromebook at home.

Like many parents, he was influenced by Horvath鈥檚 . In his 2025 book, the cognitive neuroscientist argues that the widespread use of classroom technology has left students distracted and unable to retain information.  

But prior to January, Kane never had a parent request to opt their child out of using computers or specific software. Even during parent-teacher conferences this spring, his decision to ditch Chromebooks in class never came up.

鈥淚 work in a small, rural town that’s relatively low-income, not a lot of college-educated parents. I think much of the tech backlash from parents is coming from the more-online, higher-educated folks,鈥� he said. He thinks trying to accommodate individual parents鈥� objections would be tricky. 鈥淭eachers could be caught in the crossfire because they have to deal with district-mandated online programs and then potentially parent opt-outs.鈥� 

South at ISTE+ASCD said he鈥檚 heard plenty of 鈥渉orror stories鈥� about technology, like apps dominated by advertising and students spending class time 鈥渟hooting aliens鈥� on the screen. But those examples are often due to teachers using a program that was never vetted by their district or 鈥渟ome random kid who found a workaround,鈥� he said.

He and Richard Culatta, the organization鈥檚 CEO, added that moving through state legislatures that limit screen time don鈥檛 necessarily address parents鈥� other concerns like cyberbullying, protecting student data or improving the overall quality of instruction. 

Many of the bills require paper worksheets to be used instead of technology, said Culatta, who quipped that he often feels like he鈥檚 in a 鈥渢ime warp.鈥� 

鈥淭here鈥檚 no quality indicator,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou could literally take any garbage worksheet and it would be fine.鈥�

鈥楻apid innovation鈥�

Opt-out requests have forced districts to be more thoughtful about how they use technology. 

The Worcester Public Schools in central Massachusetts is like a lot of districts. It went through 鈥渁 period of rapid innovation and tech acquisition鈥� prior to the pandemic to make sure 鈥渢eachers and students had the tools needed to be future-ready,鈥� said Sarah Kyriazis, director of the district鈥檚 Office of Innovation. 

Schools added even more ed tech tools during COVID lockdowns for remote and hybrid learning. Now some parents are questioning those decisions at a time of 鈥渘ational concern about data, privacy, security and screen time,鈥� she said. 

The district鈥檚 school committee has so far to allow parents to opt out of ed tech programs. But Kyriazis is collecting feedback from teachers on the apps they feel are most important for instruction. The goal, she said, is to whittle down the amount of data sent through online platforms to third-party vendors. Principals and teachers, she said, should be able to 鈥渟peak with parents about each app and its purpose in the classroom.鈥� 

Further west, the Northampton, Massachusetts, district is accommodating opt-out requests from about 12 parents. To do so, teachers must come up with activities that allow students to learn from the same curriculum as their peers 鈥渨ithout using the disputed programs,鈥� said Superintendent Portia Bonner. 

Laura Carney Erny, who has a second grader in the district, hasn鈥檛 tried to opt her son out of tech yet, but she鈥檚 thinking about it for third grade. Even learning which programs the school used took 鈥渕onths of back-and-forth emails鈥� with teachers and administrators, she said.

Parents say they don鈥檛 want to further complicate the lives of teachers, especially those who lack classroom aides. Northampton lost in 2024 who were paid with temporary COVID relief funds. 

鈥淚 don’t blame teachers for relying on tech because it’s an easy thing to do,鈥� she said. 鈥淪ome of these programs help keep the kids in their seats.鈥�

In the Los Angeles Unified School District, former teacher Kate Brody is among those who have opted their children out of practice sessions on i-Ready, now the subject of a over student privacy. She decided the program was a problem when her first grader couldn鈥檛 tear himself away from the screen to use the bathroom and started having accidents. 

鈥淚 used to teach full time,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 definitely don’t want to create a world where we’re asking teachers to do multiple lesson plans and monitor half the class on the computer and do analog lessons for the other half.鈥� 

It鈥檚 unfair to teachers to field opt-out requests every year, she said. That鈥檚 why, as a board member for Schools Beyond Screens, a parent advocacy group, she backs a that calls for limits on the use of technology for all students, especially in the early grades. The board will vote on the plan April 21.

鈥淩ight now,鈥� she said, 鈥渋t鈥檚 the Wild West.鈥�

Did you use this article in your work?

We鈥檇 love to hear how 蜜桃影视鈥檚 reporting is helping educators, researchers, and policymakers.