Author: Anthony Ottati

Much has been written about the negative impacts of technology on education, but seeing the effects up close while substitute teaching this year has nonetheless been shocking. From chromebooks in the first grade, kids scrolling for whole class periods in the high schools, the negative effects of screens have been visible across all three districts and eight schools that I have subbed at. Last summer, I did a bit of a deep dive on this issue and read a lot of books on the subject: The Anxious Generation, Stolen Focus, Digital Minimalism, iGen, Dopamine Nation, and (semi-related) Free Range Kids. Nonetheless, these books failed to prepare me for the grim reality that is the complete and total grip technology has on childhood. Leadership is needed on this issue across all levels of government, as well as from school administrators, community leaders, teachers and parents.

Across the United States, more and more states have been implementing phone bans in schools. Phone bans are a great place to start, however, more needs to be done to protect students from the negative forces of the internet. Even if districts have phone bans in place, without strict enforcement, phones can seep back into the schools. At the elementary and middle schools that I have subbed at, phones have not been the problem, as phone bans are strictly enforced. However, the replacement of worksheets with Chromebooks and the litany of new e-education software ensures that distractions such as Youtube or online games are only a click away. These programs put the student’s learning in a very tenuous position, as learning must compete with the call of other distractions. Even techno-optimists must admit that clicking through questions on a screen is no replacement for in-person teaching or pen and paper problem solving. The billions of dollars spent nationwide on educational software could surely be better spent on hiring more teachers and classroom aides. Many e-learning programs intersperse questions with video entertainment  in order to mimic the addictive nature of online games. This substitution resigns ourselves to marginal learning outcomes at best. 

Gamifying education is the inevitable response to the challenge of educating a generation that has grown up online. Of course, much of the erosion of attention and programming for addiction occurs outside of school. The small percentage of time a child spends in school can only partially slow our society’s broader flow towards complete digital addiction. The problem starts from a young age, forty percent of children have their own tablet by age two.¹ On the day before spring break, a fourth grader told me about her plans: stay up until 5am every day on her phone. Third graders talk frequently of streamers they are watching after school. Many of these streamers consume video games for 10-15 hours a day, and livestream their addictions to a mostly adolescent demographic. Even if a student is lucky to have good role models in the school and home, it is highly likely they are consuming content on Twitch, Tik Tok or elsewhere that models total addiction and degeneracy. Amidst all of these dark forces competing for a child’s attention, it is difficult to grow, play and make friends, let alone learn.

Watching high schoolers silently scroll on their phones for entire class periods is a truly depressing experience. This is the inevitable result of a childhood consisting of tens of thousands of hours on screens. Instead of having fun themselves, images flicker by for seconds as the scroller parasocially observes strangers having fun. The experience of scrolling on a smartphone, so clearly delineates the individual from the rest of the world.  With the absence of real life experiences, the scroller becomes easy to radicalize with video clips and sound bites. Xenophobia, sexism and misinformation thrive in the increasingly atomized and fragmented world of the internet. It is no wonder that my generation, “gen Z” has become one of the most politically conservative² and individualistic³ generations in decades. Hanging out with friends, in-person gatherings, volunteering and many other activities have all declined substantially.⁵ When engaging in all of these offline activities, the individual feels a part of something bigger than themselves. The lines between the individual and the world begin to blur. Scrolling on one’s phone does the exact opposite: the rest of the world melds into a black hole in the palm of one’s hand. 

A digital childhood primes graduates to be consumers of many other insidious vices: online gambling, video game addiction and pornography. Among men ages 15-24 who play video games, the average person did so for 27 hours a week.⁶ Artificial intelligence will no doubt unleash far worse pathologies. iGen and the Anxious Generation mostly focused on the adverse effects of social media on children, but it is clear that older generations have been deeply affected as well. The average US-American adult now spends over five hours daily on their phones.⁷ Gen Z spends 6 hours and 27 minutes on average, but boomers still spend a shocking 4 hours and 19 minutes daily. ⁸ Scrolling has become the default substitute for rest. Viewing many disparate videos per minute is not restful for our brains, but quite the opposite. Three hammers, the automobile, the television and now the smartphone have weakened the social fabric in the United States. AMLO, the former president of Mexico observed, “there is a lot of individualism, there is a lack of love, of brotherhood, of hugs and embraces”. The right has incorrectly blamed this crisis on immigrants, women, LGBTQ people and “woke” ideology. The left has yet to offer an explanation at all.

The left must see the existential threat that technology poses to progressivism as well as society as a whole. The solution is not to go low and compete with the rightwing manosphere on TikTok, but to go high and take a moral stance against widespread digital degeneracy. This can be accomplished by legislating against technology in schools, banning online gambling and by promoting community and other in-person events. People of all ages should plan to attend more in-person events and seize back community from the throes of digital addiction. Cooperative living, potlucks, common interest groups and other in-person social networks are all examples of positive steps. On a personal level, switching to a dumbphone, reading more books, and writing more are all good steps to take. I am heartened that throughout both my travels around the country and across conversations with friends, people seem to realize this is a pressing issue. There is broad support for action, and any political leader that meets the moment with solutions and moral leadership will surely enjoy widespread support. We must not be afraid to radically change course, anything less will fail to match the enormity of the challenge we face.

Footnotes:

1.  Common Sense Census: Media Use by Kids Zero to Eight
2.  2024 Retrospective, Blue Rose Research
3.  iGen, Jean Twenge
4.  iGen, Jean Twenge
5. US Bureau of Labor Statistics
6. Harmony Healthcare IT Survey
7. Harmony Healthcare IT Survey
8. CBS News