Stein, a math teacher, said he doesn\u2019t think it makes sense to pull students off of computers entirely \u2014 state tests are all online now, and teaching statistics requires datasets stored on software \u2014 but many teachers agree there is too much screen time in class.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe default is always just do it on the screen,\u201d he said, \u201cinstead of thinking about, \u2018Do we need to do that on the screen?\u2019 I think that that\u2019s the issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Montgomery County Council of Parent-Teacher Associations is pressing the district<\/a> to provide a formal process to request \u201cnon-screen alternatives\u201d for families that have \u201cmade the conscious effort to limit their children\u2019s exposure to screens.\u201d<\/p>\n Lisa Cline, a Montgomery County mom who chaired a parent advisory committee focused on technology, said she opted her son out when he was in third grade and then requested each school year that his teachers keep him off screens as much as possible until he graduated high school last year. She said she hopes to work with the advocacy group Fairplay for Kids to launch a national campaign urging parents to opt out of school-issued devices.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s a win, actually, if we get to that point where the default is you opt in,\u201d Cline said.<\/p>\n Different strategies<\/p>\n Parents are typically asked to sign paperwork at enrollment granting consent for the schools to give their kids laptops. Nicki Petrossi said when she initially refused to sign it in 2024, the school district in Fullerton, California, told her that she was legally barred from doing so. According to a letter the district provided her, reviewed by NBC News, administrators argued state rules require children to use computers if that\u2019s how the school is teaching a curriculum.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the California Department of Education said \u201chow a district implements the state-adopted standards is up to the district.\u201d The district did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n But Petrossi was certain she needed to get her children back on an analog education, in part because she\u2019d already spoken to a dozen teachers from around the country about problems they had with devices in class for her podcast, \u201cScrolling 2 Death<\/a>.\u201d She also worried about recent large-scale hacking<\/a> of education software. So last year, she transferred her children to a charter school that\u2019s low-tech and uses a classical education<\/a> curriculum.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce you know the background of why these devices were even pushed so hard, you know the data exposures that are happening,\u201d she said, \u201cthen you know that our kids are the products and that teachers don\u2019t even like it.\u201d<\/p>\n