School Library Musings: Screen Time

Recently, we were discussing the many amazing ways that technology has changed schooling when we came across a widely circulated opinion piece by Michael Bloomberg in our local newspaper (Santa Rosa Press Democrat, 3/30/2025) titled “Kids Are Spending Too Much Class Time on Laptops.”

In his article, Bloomberg posits a correlation that as many as 90 percent of schools today provide laptops or tablets to their students, yet “as students spend more time than ever on screens, social skills are deteriorating and test scores are near historic lows.” But is this correlation or causation?

As retired school librarians, we—like Mr. Bloomberg—were there at the beginning of the shift that saw technology added, often haphazardly, to the school environment without the thought usually applied to such expensive purchases (although prescient Apple did donate one computer to every classroom all across the country back in the day).

However, Bloomberg seems to have focused on the negative aspects of computer use (without, we librarians noted, citing any source for those depressing statistics) rather than on the positive ways they have transformed teaching.

Let’s ponder this a bit more. There have always been tech-savvy kids in classrooms: Remember the ones who helped teachers operate the projectors or started AV clubs for like-minded techies?

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The arrival of computers in classrooms put kids like these at the forefront of that classroom transformation. Kids began learning from each other instead of their teachers, who often shied away from this leap required in instructional expertise. The more self-reflective teachers, possibly recognizing that children were more comfortable experimenting on the computer than they were, began asking those digitally minded kids to show others what they knew. Hurray for collaborative learning!

Today, most kids are digital natives. They can easily use a browser to find information, manipulate apps like crazy, and navigate complex online directives when desired. But while students are adept at finding things online, they often don’t know what they are getting or don’t consider who created the content.

Learning how to identify sources and why it is important, to recognize the reliability of information, and to discern bias within a piece is the scaffold upon which critical thinking lies. Students need to learn how to analyze the information they can access so easily—and in so doing, become more engaged citizens of the world.

Here’s where teacher librarians come in. Part of their job—in case you didn’t know—is to help students learn to navigate that often misleading, overwhelming, and sometimes dangerous digital world. Teacher librarians can provide digital literacy lessons either directly to students, in partnership with their classroom colleagues as students work on class assignments, and/or in one-on-one tech help as needed—while also, of course, helping students find a good book! (While we’re on the subject, all schools obviously should have a library team consisting of a credentialed librarian supported by a clerk so that students, faculty, parents, and administrators have a partner with whom to set goals, provide resources, and instruct in the needed skills across all content areas and grade levels. It’s as simple as that.)

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Screens are everywhere. So often today, the knee-jerk reaction to young people getting sucked into their technology is to take those screens away. Go outside, get some fresh air! Move your body! Do your chores! But “looking up” may well give young people fresh and refreshing perspectives on the world we inhabit, and simply banning technology across the board ignores the possibility of learning the responsible use of it. In our conversation, we came up with a few ideas that seem to make sense:

Idea 1

Teach students how to use the tool. Offer lessons to students early on in keyboarding, basic spreadsheet, photo, and writing programs; they will happily show each other tricks for formatting text and images in fun ways. Share strategies for organizing desktops, data, and displays. 

The result: Students are capable of presenting their ideas in a professional manner and are empowered to use technology responsibly and productively.

Idea 2

We fail students by thinking that computers are the instruction. On this, we tend to agree with Mr. Bloomberg. As he notes, computers are often used in the classroom for “practice in skill acquisition,” which equates to the screen version of those boring ”drill and kill” worksheets. But, in fact, they are not the instruction—rather, computers are the pencils, the paper, the art supplies, the calculators we can use to spark student inquiry. They are tools for questioning, discovering, creating, communicating, and making meaning. Ban these devices, and you completely miss an amazing opportunity.

The result: Students use computers to make meaning rather than regurgitate rote, answer-driven content. When we’ve taught them how to use the tools (see #1 above), they can then apply that knowledge to ask questions and seek answers through critical inquiry.

What if, instead of banning screens from the classroom, as Bloomberg requests, we banned them at breaks (especially at the elementary and middle school level)? What if we had students leave their devices of all kinds in their classrooms as they head out to lunch or recess for social interactions and active, engaged play? To make this work, we adults would have to model a similar behavior of online activity—turning off our devices at certain times of day and encouraging screen-free dinner table conversations or family and community interactions. Imagine what might emerge from such engagement!

Idea 3

Mr. Bloomberg encourages us to reminisce about our favorite teachers—the ones who inspired us to be creative thinkers. They asked questions, they nudged, they required attention, and gave attention freely. In fact, those kinds of teachers are still inspiring students today, encouraging them to use the tools of today to question more, think harder, and look more deeply into what makes the world (and ourselves) tick.

The result: Students engage in the world as active participants.

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A Final Ponder

Clearly, computer access is not just essential; it is firmly integrated into today’s educational environments. We just need to realign our instructional goals and experiences to include skill-building across multiple platforms—from handwriting to computing to ethics, art, and community action.

Rather than blaming the computer, let’s encourage creative instructional approaches using it in the classroom and library spaces that support twenty-first-century learners willing to challenge themselves and others.

Common Sense Education: Digital Citizenship Curriculum Impact Report. https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/featured-content/files/digital-citizenship-curriculum-impact-report_june-2024.pdf.

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