Technology is important, and we need it for many things, such as online assignments or tests; however, there should be stricter screen time limits in schools.
While the Iowa legislature did pass a law this year banning cell phones from instructional time in schools, screen time is still an issue. Students still have Chromebooks. And they’re not always using them for what they’re intended.
Students are playing games any chance they get or using email to talk to friends in other classes. When they finish a test they immediately want to go and have free time on their computer when they could read a book, do other homework, or just anything else besides being on a computer.
Earlier this year, Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath, a neuroscientist and educator, testified before a U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
He pointed out that from 2010 to now, the more developed a country is and the more it uses digital technology, the worse kids perform on school subjects like literacy or just a simple thing such as holding basic attention. He said that across 80 countries, once schools adopt digital technology widely, performance goes down.
“Gen Z is the first generation in modern history to underperform us on basically every cognitive we have, from basic attention, to memory, to literacy, to numeracy, to executive functioning to even general IQ,” said Cooney.
It is easy to get distracted when you see a notification in Email or on YouTube. Just one random tab can throw off how much time one spends actually doing homework rather than using up crucial study time in school.
Ian Vallebo works in IT at MCHS. I asked him if we can track the average screen times per day of students. He gave me a list of 22 random students and their screen time. The lowest average was 18 minutes. The highest average was 2 hours and 26 minutes.
However, the group average was about 1 hour and 17 minutes. This information might leave us with more questions than answers. But maybe it is time to start thinking about screentime more.
Limiting screen time and balancing it should become a daily thing at MCHS. It would make students healthier and way more focused. It’s not just about learning, it's about being present and school performance.
I want hands-on experiences, if possible. Being on a computer all the time mainly feels repetitive and way less engaging. I'm not saying we should get rid of the use of computers completely. We should limit them more.
