The argument for low – or no – tech in classrooms

Teachers advocate for less technology in schools, arguing that high technology dependence is detrimental to student learning, especially as recent research shows that students learn more and get better grades after taking notes by hand than typing (source).

  • “Analog teaching still wins where it matters. Print reading boosts comprehension, handwriting strengthens thinking, and focused discussion deepens understanding: all backed by decades of cognitive science. You don’t need a device to build knowledge. You need books, pencils and high-quality talk. In a world obsessed with digital solutions, the fundamentals are still the most powerful tools we have. How might your teaching change if you stripped it back to what actually works?” —Educator in the UK
  • “As a teacher, you can’t complain that students don’t pay attention when every class is 45 minutes of entertainment disguised as learning. Screen based lessons, gamified instruction, and short activities lest engagement suffer. This ensures that one never sits with an idea long enough to actually think about it. Too much focus on engagement leads to a lack of focus on a task; it causes attentional stamina to suffer.” —Teacher in the United States
    • “Man is this the truth. I was a direct instruction teacher and the number of kids who came and told me they preferred that because they were ‘sick of PowerPoints and games’ over the years was stunning.” —Retired Teacher in TN

“Same. We take notes almost everyday. I do have PowerPoints but I don’t read them. I expand on them. The PowerPoint lets those who aren’t interested get what they need. The lecture captures those who are interested. It’s amazing how many start out with the PowerPoint but end up loving the lecture.” —High School Teacher in North Carolina

  • “Maybe unpopular opinion, but I think we’ve become too dependent on technology. When I was in college, we were taught how to use tech as a supplement in education. Now it’s full on dependency. Last year, we had an all-day internet outage and it completely wrecked most of the teachers’ lesson plans for the day. Ever since the pandemic, everything is online. Testing, homework, reading. It isn’t healthy. Kids shouldn’t be in front of screens as much they are. And yeah, they aren’t really becoming any more technologically literate from it. They understand how to work an app. That’s it.” —Substitute Teacher in the United States
    • “Once we went 1:1, they stopped our computer applications class. They don’t have a class to teach them how to use Word, Excel, PowerPoint or their equivalents. It was presumed the kids would know how to use these programs. They don’t. It’s sad, because they could if they knew how.” —Teacher in Pennsylvania
    • “Yep! I teach Spanish, and everything we do is paper and pencil. In my opinion, after 30 years of teaching, the overuse of tech has robbed kids of key abilities.” —Secondary Spanish Teacher in New York
  • “The future is technology free classrooms. No tablets, no laptops, just paper, pencil, and books.” —Anonymous educator
    • “I am 10 years into teaching and honestly we do about 80 percent on paper…it makes a difference. I still post all the slides and make things available online. Unless a student truly needs to do an assignment on their computer, I want them to write it out. Fortunately I haven’t had issues with AI. Cell phones have been a challenge for a few students. They are banned but I have to document at least 3 instances before the admin will get involved. It is exhausting to have to track and document all of that. I am trying to do my best but I would rather not have all that additional paperwork.” —High School SPED Teacher in the United States