Let’s reconsider
the digitalisation of education
Why EdTech should be banned from schools
With a growing body of evidence calling for a cautious consideration of the impact of digital technology on children, the lack of debate regarding its deployment by schools themselves is surprising.
In the last decade, we have observed how young people's mental health, social habits and cognition have been profoundly altered by the use of digital technology and we believe that schools should be part of the solution, not part of the problem.
In a country like Spain, 31.6% of teenagers spend more than five hours a day online on weekdays, and 49.6% do so during weekends [1]. School education should help to reduce, not increase, this hyper-connection, which generates a series of increasingly evident harmful effects – in particular, a dramatic deterioration in mental health and cognitive skills.
International organisations as well as national educational, health [2], and data protection authorities [3], and experts who are competent to issue objective recommendations devoid of commercial interests question the rationale for the digitalisation of education and invite us to rethink it. Among other problems, they underline that the use of tablets does not enhance learning [4], that it is a source of distraction for pupils, and that it raises serious data protection concerns.
Already in 2015, an OECD report [5] noted that countries with above-average use of computers in classrooms performed significantly worse. Those that invested the most in the digitalisation of education did not show appreciable improvements in reading, mathematics or science. On the contrary, those who invested the least in this deployment improved their performance in all parameters. The report concluded that the essential skills (even digital abilities), could be acquired with conventional pedagogical tools.
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More recently, in 2023 UNESCO [6] warned of the likely underestimation of the short- and long-term costs of using technology in the classroom. It highlighted that 89% of the educational platforms that had been recommended during the pandemic involved some form of surveillance and exploitation of children's data, noting that 39 of the 42 governments that promoted online education
during that period favoured uses that violated children's rights. It also emphasised that the growing influence of the technology industry on education policy should be a source of concern.
The fact that in 2023 the Swedish authorities decided to reverse their classrooms digitalisation policy and return to textbooks [7] based on the conclusions of a group of experts coordinated by the Karolinska Institute, should be a wake-up call. In February 2024, the Institut national de santé publique du Québec also conducted a systematic review of the scientific literature on the effects of digital device use in the classroom, whether for personal or pedagogical purposes. It concluded that, at best, they had no benefit in terms of learning; and at worst, they had a negative impact on children's cognition [8].
Beyond pedagogical considerations, digital deployment in education cannot be dissociated from the implications of the use of devices at an age where the harms, especially in terms of mental health, outweigh the benefits. Nor can it be in breach of paediatric recommendations and existing laws, particularly in terms of privacy.
WHY TAKE ACTION
12 problems
It is essential that schools strictly limit the use of technological devices for
the following reasons:
02. A Source of Distraction and a Gateway to Leisure Uses
The line between educational and recreational uses of devices is often blurred. Pupils are tempted to use them for purposes far removed from their pedagogical objectives (social media, videos, gaming, pornography, etc.). The use of these devices can result in addictive behaviours; it is associated with a weakening of mental health, a feeling of disconnection from reality, aggressiveness, and suicidal intentions [10].
03. Contradictory Messages
On the one hand, children and teenagers are constantly being told to spend less time on their devices, but, on the other, they are required to use them several hours a day for school purposes. This creates a dissonance with psychiatric and paediatric recommendations that call for a reduction of the total amount of screen time (including for school purposes), as scientific studies confirm its link with psychological disorders [11].
04. . Impact on Concentration and Listening Skills
The stimuli to which digital devices get individuals accustomed contribute to mental dispersion to the detriment of sustained attention. Inhibitory control is an executive function that is acquired during adolescence and early adulthood. The constant use of devices that encourage multitasking leads to more errors and superficial thinking.
06. Sense of Effort and Passive Attitude
Devices and programmes used in classrooms often convey the idea that technology can solve problems for the learner, to the detriment of fostering a sense of effort and self-motivation, which can be especially harmful at an early age. They are sometimes presented as active methods, when in fact they are passive.
07. Deresponsibilisation
Practices such as uploading homework to a platform instead of having pupils write it down themselves do not contribute to acquiring a sense of responsibility.
08. Privacy
Educational platforms pose a risk of exploitation of young people's data without sufficient safeguards [14]. They allow profiling minors and register their behavioural habits, which can later be used to influence their behaviour or categorise them. Minors are often required to register for these services and give their consent below the age set by law.
09. ‘Digital Natives’ Are Less Prepared for a Connected World
Living, navigating one's way through, and working in a highly digitalised environment requires information literacy based on critical thinking, knowledge, and references that allow contextualising information. The belief that the use of devices from an early age favours the so called ‘digital skills’ is erroneous. The use of tablets even seems to negatively affect computer skills [15]
10. Drifting Towards a Dehumanised Education
The gradual introduction of devices in classrooms, especially when programmes provide one device per student could set the pace for a gradual relegation of teachers to a secondary role. Schools should be an environment dominated by human interaction, in which pupils become accustomed to communicating with people – not spending more hours interacting with screens.
11. Influence of the ‘Ed Tech’ Industry
The technology industry exerts a powerful influence in favour of the digitalisation of education, devoting considerable resources to sponsoring conferences, media content, and often, biased studies [16] Conflicts of interest are at play and a commercial logic prevails over pedagogical considerations.
12. Economic and Environmental Costs
The investment required to digitalise school education is costly, both for authorities, schools, and families, at the expense of other types of investments, such as in teachers and other infrastructures. The (often-planned) obsolescence of devices forces them to be renewed periodically, increasing their economic and environmental burden. [17]
5 proposals
for a school education that respects the right to disconnect.
01
Ensure That Textbooks Are Always Available in Paper Format
02
Limit the Use of Screens in Classrooms to Exceptional Situations
Exclude digital devices from the daily classroom routine at all ages. Fully eliminate screens in early-childhood education and use them only exceptionally in primary education. In other educational stages, limit them to cases where they provide added value backed by evidence.
03
Guarantee the Right of Students, Families, and Teachers to Disconnect
Maintain physical agendas and prevent homework from being uploaded to platforms. Always enable the possibility of doing homework offline. Do not delegate to families the responsibility of monitoring the use of school devices.
04
Make Digital Technology an Object and Not a Means of Study
Actively encourage reflection on and knowledge about the implications of the use of digital technology. Train pupils in computer and office skills in specific IT classes, using software that respects their privacy.
05
Offer a Screen-Free Alternative
As an initial measure, while the above proposals are being implemented, offer a ‘screen-free’ class in each school year that respects the right to disconnect of students from families who request it.
Download the full petition in english
Support the campaign.
WHO WE ARE
We are an independent collective of education professionals, parents, and advocates for the right to disconnect, all of them signatories of the OFF Manifesto.
With the decisive contribution of Catherine L’Ecuyer, PhD in Education and Psychology, global bestselling author of The Wonder Approach (2019, Robinson), and Diego Hidalgo, author of Anestesiados (2021, Catarata) and Retomar el control (2024, Catarata), and driving force behind the OFF Movement.
REFERENCES
[1] UNICEF. (2023). Impacto de la tecnología en la adolescencia. https://www.unicef.es/publicacion/impacto-de-la-tecnologia-en-la-adolescencia
[2] Asociación Española de Pediatría. (2024). “Cambia el plan: una campaña de AEP y AEPD para reducir los riesgos del mal uso de las pantallas en la infancia y adolescencia”. https://www.aeped.es/noticias/cambia-plan-una-campana-aep-y-aepd-reducir-los-riesgos-mal-uso-las-pantallas-en-infancia-y
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Schmidt-Persson J, Rasmussen MGB, Sørensen SO, et al. Screen Media Use and Mental Health of Children and Adolescents: A Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2024;7(7):e2419881. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2821176
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Alvarez de Mon, M. A., Sánchez-Villegas, A., Gutiérrez-Rojas, L., & Martinez-Gonzalez, M. A. (2024). Screen exposure, mental health and emotional well-being in the adolescent population: is it time for governments to take action?. Journal of epidemiology and community health. Advance online publication. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38964781
[3] Agencia Española de Protección de Datos. (2024). Patrones adictivos en el tratamiento de datos personales. https://www.aepd.es/guias/patrones-adictivos-en-tratamiento-de-datos-personales.pdf
[Spanish Data Protection Agency warns about the fact that education software tends to use children’s data].
[4] AEP (2024). Impacto de dispositivos digitales en el sistema educativo. https://www.aeped.es/sites/default/files/impacto_de_los_dispositivos_digitales_en_el_sistema_educativo_cps_1.pdf
[Spanish Paediatric Society + Spanish Data Protection Agency evaluate the impact of digital devices in schools].
[5] Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). (2015). Students, Computers and Learning: Making the Connection (PISA). OECD Publicaciones. https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/students-computers-and-learning_9789264239555-en
[6]Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura. (2023). 2023 GEM report: Technology in education: a tool on whose terms? https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000386165
[7] Government Offices of Sweden. (2024). Government investing in more reading time and less screen
time. https:/ /www.government.se/articles/2024/02/government-investing-in-more-reading-time-and-
less-screen-time/
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[8] Institut National de Santé Publique du Québec (INSPQ). (2024). L’utilisation des écrans en contexte scolaire et la santé des jeunes de moins de 25 ans : effets sur la cognition. https://www.inspq.qc.ca/sites/default/files/2024-02/3434-utilisation-ecrans-contexte-scolaire-sante-jeunes.pdf
[9] Salmerón-Ruiz, M. A., Montiel, I., & L’Ecuyer, C. (2024). A call for caution in the use of screens: a lack of evidence of risk is not evidence of a lack of risk. Anales de Pediatría (English Edition), Volume 101, Issue 2, August 2024, Pages 73-74. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2341287924001960
[10] Cyber Guardians. (2024). Uso de Internet & Enfermedad Mental en niños & adolescentes en España. https://www.cyber-guardians.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/CyberGuardians_Research_Briefing_2024_EN.pdf
Sapien Labs. (2023). Age of first smartphone and mental wellbeing outcomes. https://sapienlabs.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Sapien-Labs-Age-of-First-Smartphone-and-Mental-Wellbeing-Outcomes.pdf
[11] Asociación Española de Psiquiatría de la Infancia y la Adolescencia (2024). Recomendaciones de Uso de Nuevas Tecnologías en la Infancia y Adolescencia https://aepnya.es/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/AEPNYA-Recomendaciones-de-Uso-de-Nuevas-Tecnologias-en-la-Infancia-y-Adolescencia-1.pdf
[Spanish Children and Teenagers’ Psychiatric Society. Recommendation for the Use of New Technologies in Childhood and Teenage (2024)]
[12] Altamura, L., Vargas, C., & Salmerón, L. (2023). Do New Forms of Reading Pay Off? A Meta-Analysis on the Relationship Between Leisure Digital Reading Habits and Text Comprehension. Review of Educational
Research, 0(0). https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/00346543231216463
Desmurget, M. (2023). Screen Damage: The Dangers of Digital Media for Children, Cambridge, UK: Polity, 2023
[13] Wiley, R., & Rapp, B. (2021). The Effects of Handwriting Experience on Literacy Learning. Psychological
Science, 32(7), 1086-1103. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0956797621993111
[14] UNESCO. (2023). Id.6. According to the report: “In addition to the impact on learning, there are also privacy concerns when specific applications collect user data unnecessary for these applications to work. As of 2023, only 16% of countries explicitly guaranteed data privacy in education by law, however. One analysis found that 89% of 163 education technology products recommended during the pandemic could survey children. Further, 39 of 42 governments providing online education during the pandemic fostered uses that risked or infringed on children’s rights.”
[15] Boon, H.J., Boon, L. & Bartle, T. Does iPad use support learning in students aged 9–14 years? A systematic review. Australian Educational Researcher 48, 525–541 (2021). –541 (2021). https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13384-020-00400-0
[16] UNESCO. (2023). Id. 6. According the report: “A lot of the evidence comes from those trying to sell it. Pearson funded its own studies, contesting independent analysis that showed its products had no impact.”
[17] United Nations. (2024). The world generated 62 million tonnes of electronic waste in just one year and recycled way too little, UN agencies warn.
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Further material
Beneito, P., & Vicente-Chirivella, O. (2022). Banning mobile phones in schools: evidence from regional-level policies in Spain. Emerald Insight
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/AEA-05-2021-0112/full/html
Haidt, J. (2024). Anxious Generation. Penguin Books
CERLALC (UNESCO). https://cerlalc.org/publicaciones/dosier-lectura-digital-en-la-primera-infancia/
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). (2022). PISA 2022 results: Volume II.
https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/pisa-2022-results-volume-ii_a97db61c-en
Spitzer, M. (2014). Digital dementia: What We and Our Children are Doing to our Minds. Brno: Host. Cognitive Remediation Journal 3(2):31-34 10.5507/crj.2014.008
Further initiatives in this field:
Numérique éducatif raisonné (France) https://education-numerique-raisonnee.com/