Latest / DEEP INSIGHT / Why more school districts are limiting screen time for students

Transcript

Why more school districts are limiting screen time for students · DEEP INSIGHT

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This week, the nation's second largest school district, Los Angeles Unified,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: imposts strict new limits on screen time for its roughly
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: four hundred thousand students. As William Brangham reports, it's just
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: the latest example of a growing backlash against technology and
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: classrooms across the country.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: That's right, Jeff la For like many districts, for years
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: worked aggressively to get technology into the hands of students,
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: to get chromebooks and iPads into the classrooms. But this
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: new policy, one of the most aggressive in the country,
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: marks a dramatic shift. No screen time will be allowed
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: before second grade, and older students will see sharp limits
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: six hours per week for middle schoolers and ten hours
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: including homework time for high schoolers. So to help understand
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: these new rules and the rationale behind them, we are
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: joined by Nick Melvoin. He's a member of the Los
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: Angeles School Board and he sponsored this new screen time rule. Nick,
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: thank you so much for being here. Just a decade ago,
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: Los Angeles was spending hundreds of millions of dollars to
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: get technology into the classrooms, and now there is this
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: abrupt shift. How did we get to this point?
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: Well, thanks for having me and I think, you know,
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: as policymakers, particularly when it comes to students' educations and livelihoods,
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: we have an opportunity when we know better to do better.
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: And like you mentioned, LA was a real pioneer when
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: it came to trying to bridge the digital divide with
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: laptops and devices and internet. And it was a blessing
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: that we were because during COVID, of course that was
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: a lifeline for the hundreds of thousands of students who
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: rely who relied on those in LA for any education.
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: But since we returned to school in person and I
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: spend time every week in classrooms, I was struck by
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: kind of the overliance we had on technology in schools.
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: First students who were on their cell phones. I brought
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: the resolution to band smartphones in LA Unified a couple
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: of years ago, and we just actually had the results
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: of a survey of our teachers that came back this
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: week that said over ninety percent of teachers report that
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: engagement is up, mental health challenges are down when it
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: came to cell phones, but I still was seeing so
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: many kids on screens for hours a day, and so
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: I just thought it was important for us to recalibrate
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: and reset students' relationship with technology as we return to
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: school and as we think about the next ten years.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: So how will these limits work in practice? Or teacher
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: is going to keep a stop watch of how much
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: screen time is going to happen for the young students,
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: how are they going to do this well.
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: So the idea, not unlike our cell phone policy, is
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: not to start with the punitive, but really the instructive
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: and try to win hearts and minds, if you will.
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: And this was developed with educators in mind. You know,
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: we are a first mover here. It was after my
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: resolution came out that the Surgeon General's office had suggested
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: screen time limits. But other than that, there's really no
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: district that has a policy like this, and so it
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: was an iterative process with our teachers. And again the
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: idea is not to be punitive, but to recalibrate and
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: revert back to you know, not technology being the default,
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: but being an instructional tool just that. And so you
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: know in elementary school, it is more restrictive in high school.
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: And you know, it presumes the fact that you're going
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: to have certain classes like a computer science or graphic
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: design that may require more screen time. But the idea
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: is that teachers just need to think about that more holistically,
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: and if they're assigning research that's going to be online
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: for homework, they should limit the amount of time that
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: kids are on screens during the day. There's not a
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: you know, a punitive piece in place like a teacher log.
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: We want to respect educators or professionals. This is about
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: the amount of time that kids are sitting with a screen.
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: Knowing how much screen time they may be getting outside
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: of the school day, we want to make sure that
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: we take, you know, put a stake in the ground
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: and how much they should be sitting in front of
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: screens during the school day.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: Some of your critics have argued that this doesn't make
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: a clear distinction between harmful screen time playing games or
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: apps or things that are not educator and screen time
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: use that is educational. And it goes back to this
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: original question. Do you worry that this could exacerbate the
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: digital divide between wealthier districts where kids could have access
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: to screens more often at home in poorer districts.
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: Well, what I was responding to, and you know, my
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: teaching career began in South LA where we saw this
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: digital divide, and as should be clear that this policy
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: still encourages families who need devices and internet to opt
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: in the district will continue providing that for families who
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: need it, but it won't be the default option. And
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: what we see is that you know, students from lower
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: income backgrounds, because their parents are working multiple jobs, they're
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: the ones who are outside of the school day actually
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: spending more time on screens they get home, and there's
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: a lot of whether that's TV time or iPads or devices.
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: And so there's an irony here because from an equity perspective,
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: it's actually those students who are seeing the deleterious effects
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: of screens throughout the days. And so I think this
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: policy strikes the right balance between saying we still want
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: to make sure that students who we need to have
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: access to devices and internet, but we know that those
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: students in need are the ones who actually will benefit
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: the most from a renewed focus on hands on learning,
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: less time in front of the screen, going outdoors at
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: the elementary school level, in particular, more play based learning.
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: That was my hope with this. More than a dozen
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: states have been following your lead here at the previous
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: Surgeon General warned against screen time for young people. Do
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: you think this is the beginning of a vanguard of
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: a pushback against technology in classes. I do.
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: I think, like I said at the outset, when we
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: know better, we need to do better. And I think
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: that l Unified as leading what will be a nationwide,
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: if not global, charge to recalibrate and think differently about
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: the promise of ed tech and focus on that tactile
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: hands on learning and the mental health benefits for kids
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: when they're off of screens.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: All right, that is Nick Melvoyne of the Los Angeles
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: Unified School District. Thank you so much for being here.
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: Thanks for having me.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: Support journalism you trust. Support PBS News. Donate now, or
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: even better, start a monthly contribution today.