ARDMORE, Pa. — High school senior Aliyah Pack struggles to stay focused during classes in her Pennsylvania school district, where students receive iPads in kindergarten, transition to Chromebooks by second grade, and receive MacBooks in eighth grade.
With ADHD making it challenging to concentrate on screen-based learning, Aliyah often finds herself streaming Netflix during class on her school-issued laptop, concealing her earbuds beneath her curly hair.
“It’s very hard to get into the mindset of being in school,” Aliyah said.
When Aliyah’s mother noticed declining grades and requested the school remove her daughter’s laptop access, administrators told her such accommodations were impossible.
Throughout the nation, families are expressing alarm about excessive classroom screen exposure and urging schools to return to traditional paper-and-pencil methods. In Lower Merion Township, where Aliyah attends school, more than 600 residents of the wealthy Philadelphia-area community have endorsed a petition demanding preservation of parental rights to remove their children from mandatory digital device usage during school hours. District officials have rejected this request, arguing that removing hundreds of students from technology-integrated curriculum would be impractical.
During Monday evening’s school board session, officials indicated they were exploring various responses to parent technology concerns, but exemptions would not be considered.
“There is not an option for us to not have technology in schools,” said Lower Merion School Board member Anna Shurak.
The board convened to review technology policy updates, including eliminating the current opt-out provision. More than 100 attendees gathered in opposition, many displaying “Screens Down, Pencils Up” buttons.
Numerous speakers clarified they don’t oppose technology entirely — most acknowledge that computer literacy represents a crucial life skill. Their objection centers on technology’s classroom dominance.
“Teaching how to use technology is not the same thing as using technology to teach everything else,” said Sara Sullivan, a parent.
Lower Merion’s controversy highlights whether educational technology has become so embedded in instruction that opting out is no longer viable. Students rely on devices for educational gaming, assignment submission, online resource access, and essay composition — yet parents question the educational value of game-like software.
Subashini Subramanian described how DreamBox, the math software used by her second-grade daughter, encourages rapid completion to earn points. When she advised her daughter to work through problems carefully, the 8-year-old responded, “If I go through all the steps, it’s slowing me down. I have to click, click, click.”
Many parents at the board meeting expressed frustration over constant screen time battles with their children. Adam Washington explained that his son’s screen addiction leads him to confiscate phones and televisions, only to discover the child watching YouTube on his school laptop.
“The screen is killing him. It is killing me, and him, together with our relationship,” Washington said.
One meeting attendee questioned what alternatives students would have without computers.
“Opting out is not a solution. It’s avoiding the hard work of finding a solution,” Seth Ruderman said.
Nationwide resistance to classroom technology has intensified. Ballotpedia reports that at least 14 states have introduced legislation limiting school screen time, with Alabama, Tennessee, Utah and Iowa enacting such measures.
Los Angeles, the country’s second-largest school system, announced plans to prohibit screens through second grade, establish daily screen time limits by grade level, ban YouTube access, and audit all educational technology contracts.
In Vermont, proposed legislation would permit both parents and teachers to refuse classroom technology use. Democratic State Rep. Angela Arsenault, a bill co-sponsor, said she’s addressing parental concerns about educational technology.
“Parents in many districts and states just aren’t being listened to or not being heard when they ask that their students not be forced to use these products,” Arsenault said.
Lower Merion officials say they’re addressing community feedback and have implemented changes, including blocking problematic websites identified by parents.
“We have wonderful teachers who have continuously prioritized human interaction and relationships,” Superintendent Frank Ranelli wrote in a parent letter. He declined to provide additional comments to the AP.
District officials are exploring potential modifications, including enhanced cellphone restrictions, preventing youngest students from taking devices home, and installing classroom monitoring software.
However, surveillance technology creates privacy concerns and additional complications. In 2010, Lower Merion School District paid $610,000 to resolve lawsuits from two students who claimed the district conducted surveillance through webcams on school-issued laptops.
Sixteen-year-old student Mia Tatar voiced concerns at the board meeting about unintended consequences from the anti-technology movement. She reported that current internet filtering is so restrictive that she’s been blocked while researching legitimate school topics, including breast cancer.
Mia argued that students must develop responsible technology habits, and that filtering or laptop removal won’t accomplish this goal.
“It doesn’t teach kids how to hold themselves accountable and how to be responsible for regulating their own screen time once they’re in the world,” Mia said in an interview.
Her friend Elliot Campbell, 15, suggested implementing strict screen limitations for younger students while providing older students greater autonomy.
“If we lose our laptops or if we lose the partial freedom we have on them, it’s not going to prepare us for college,” Elliot told board members at the hearing.
High school student Joaquin Imaizumi offered a contrasting perspective. He called it “completely unfair” to expect children to control devices that prove addictive even for adults.
“This isn’t about learning to constrain yourself,” he said in an interview. “We don’t give someone drugs and say, ‘OK, now learn how to deal with this.’”
His primary concern involves devices providing easy access to AI tools like ChatGPT, which he believes undermines his classmates’ independent thinking abilities.
“I’ve seen the atrophy of my peers’ thinking, which is existentially concerning,” Joaquin said.
AI influence begins early. Second-grader Lillian Keshet, who addressed the board meeting, explained that Google Docs offers writing “suggestions” during class.
“I’m a pretty good writer by myself,” Lillian said. “I don’t need your suggestions, Google!”
