Deeper Learning and Educational Screen Time

School boards can lead the way to adopting healthier forms of student engagement

Concerns about student screen time should extend beyond just banning cellphones in the classroom, writes contributor Michael D. Toth. Attention also should be paid to the use of devices that focus on gamified learning and passive consumption. Cellphones and related forms of technology can provide educational value when they are used as tools for research and creation, encouraging deeper learning, says the education researcher. 

March 23, 2026

With the advent of the iPhone in 2007, today’s students are the first generation to grow up in a world of highly addictive technology. Excessive screen time has resulted in shorter attention spans and poorer impulse control of young brains that now crave continuous access to digital content. As students use their cellphones to satisfy these cravings during class time, many school districts have banned personal devices.

Research shows the positive effects of these bans:

·       A 2025 study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that cellphone bans reduced unexcused absences and led to significant improvements in student tests scores after an initial adjustment period.

·       A 2025 report from the Collaborative for Neuroscience, Diversity, and Learning and the Center for the Transformation of Schools shared quotes from students who expressed that being phone-free in school made it easier to focus on academics and form social connections with their peers.

However, banning cellphones has not been enough to protect students from excessive screen time in school. Sensing the need to change instruction to better engage the students of today, many school districts have turned to gamified computer programs. And parents are beginning to push back against these district policies.

·       A 2025 article from NBC News shared the concerns of Schools Beyond Screens, a parent coalition at Los Angeles Unified School District. The group is working to reduce mandatory time in online learning and assessment platforms after seeing the negative effects that excessive educational screen time has had on their children. Those effects include poorer grades, behavioral problems, and even health issues.

School boards and education leaders must reexamine educational screen time in schools and lead the way to adopting alternative forms of classroom engagement that better align with the healthy development of all students.

What the Research Says

Because young brains are still developing, they are particularly vulnerable to the effects of excessive screen time. The average amount of time children and adolescents in the U.S. spend on screens, including educational technology, far exceeds the recommendations of pediatric health experts such as the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and the Journal of the American Medical Association, Pediatrics. See Figure 1.

According to a 2023 analysis in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, excessive screen time in children and adolescents has been linked to developmental and behavior issues such as:

• Poorer attention skills
• Lower cognitive skills
• Negative impact on working memory
• Lower empathy
• Less self-control
• Decrease in social coping skills and emotional regulation

Are All Types of Screen Time Harmful?

Recent scientific publications reveal the harm of different types of screen time:

• The effects of excessive short-form video consumption: A 2025 meta-analysis of 71 different studies, published by the National Library of Medicine and including data from both youth and adults, found that increased consumption of short-form videos (such as those popularized by TikTok) was associated with:
  • Poorer mental health
  • Higher stress and anxiety
  • Poorer cognition
  • Poorer attention and inhibitory control
• The effects of social media exposure: A 2025 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that 9- to 13-year-olds with increased exposure to social media performed poorer on cognitive functioning tests compared with their peers who had little to no social media exposure. The tested skills included:
  • Reading
  • Memory
  • Vocabulary
• The effects of AI use: A 2025 study (still in press) by MIT Media Labs raised concerns about the long-term costs of relying on AI. Compared to peers who did not use AI, college students who used AI to write essays showed:
  • Reduced brain connectivity
  • Weaker cognitive engagement
  • Lower recall of written work

In addition to this research, educators have seen the effects of excessive screen time on students for themselves. At Building Expertise, a conference about deeper learning, nearly 600 educators participated in a live audience poll where they identified the skills that educational screen time fails to develop. See Figure 2.

Excessive screen time contributes to a reality in which learning critical human and life skills outside of school is no longer guaranteed. This makes opportunities to exercise interpersonal skills in school even more important.

Educational Screen Time in Schools

Many schools have adopted programs that center on “gamified” learning, emphasizing such game elements as points, badges, leaderboards, performance graphs, and story narratives. Gamified learning provides rapid rewards through immediate feedback. According to research studies from 2020 and 2025, these educational games are designed to trigger the dopamine reward systems of the brain to motivate students and engage them in learning.

Although well-intended, these educational technology programs can add to excessive screen time. According to a 2025 study, a 2025 scientific literature review, and a 2015 longitudinal study, gamified learning also can demotivate students from learning, degrade academic performance, and create stress and anxiety.

Gamifying learning is not the only way to make use of technology in the classroom. Within clear guidelines, technology can be better used as a resource to support deeper learning. As leaders design policies around technology, it’s important to understand what deeper learning and authentic student engagement look like in the classroom.

What Is Authentic Engagement in the Classroom?

Authentic, student-driven engagement, is defined in a 2025 article by the research-based organization Instructional Empowerment. Authentic student engagement focuses on teachers creating rigorous learning tasks, giving students real roles and responsibilities, and establishing collaborative team structures. All students participate equally with their peers, developing academic abilities and interpersonal, cognitive, and intrapersonal skills.

In contrast to gamified learning that relies on attention-grabbing, deeper learning classrooms create fulfilling learning experiences. Students face a worthy challenge during extended learning tasks, persist through struggles, and build authentic bonds with their peers as they succeed together and see their own skills grow.

When devices are used in these deeper learning classrooms, they are not for gamified learning; the devices are tools for research and creation, not consumption.

Students learn more effectively when they are active participants in deeper learning rather than passive consumers. One eighth-grade student was quoted in a 2025 article saying, “Our discussions with our peers sink into our brains a lot more, so we can remember the information rather than us asking the teacher or the teacher just giving us the information.”

Screen Time Policy Recommendations for School Boards

The following advice can help school boards reexamine policies around screen time:

1. Don’t stop at cellphone bans: While banning cellphones at school may produce positive effects, school boards must consider total screen time exposure at school including educational technology.
2. Require detailed screen time audits: Require reports with the average amount of screen time by school and grade/subject area. We have observed that schools and classrooms may vary greatly in how much screen time they assign to students.
3. Monitor screen time for the most vulnerable: Although students receiving academic interventions often benefit most from collaborative deeper learning, we have observed schools where they spend up to six hours per day on screens in computer-based interventions. School boards should consider establishing policies capping screen time exposure and requiring more human interaction during learning.
4. Create clear guidelines for how devices should be used: Encourage educators to move students from consuming content on screens to using technology to create products, innovate ideas, and research solutions. Ideally, students use technology to create collaboratively with their peers in well-designed learning tasks.
5. Set guidelines on AI usage: When students use AI to replace what normally would be their own effort, it deprives them of the opportunity to exercise their developing brains. AI is a helpful tool in classrooms only when used to sharpen thinking rather than outsource it. Using AI to generate the end product—such as a book report—robs the developing brain of the necessary thinking to construct a well-thought-out, well-researched book report.
6. Invest in teacher development: Avoid outsourcing instruction to gamified learning programs. Instead, invest in professional learning that equips teachers to create deeper learning classrooms that require students to collaborate and innovate while using technology as a resource and not a substitute for human interaction.

As evidence mounts that excessive screen time harms healthy child development, school boards face a moral imperative to act. Strong, deliberate policies are not optional; they are essential. By setting firm boundaries, schools can reclaim their core mission: delivering rigorous academics while developing the whole child. The result is students who can think deeply, connect meaningfully with others, and build the life skills they need to thrive.