I'm a Gen Z teacher: schools rely too much on Chromebooks

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As back-to-school season unfolded in New York, the city's teachers organized their classrooms as they usually do: posting posters, reading lesson plans, sharpening pencils and, for about a technology/google-education-chromebooks-schools.html” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>decadecharging Chromebooks.

These lightweight laptops have become a post-COVID classroom staple, and for good reason. They allow students to learn at their own pace, access materials, and create projects and presentations without expensive elements. Some citywide superintendents even require dedicated time to practice math and reading on computers.

However, as a member of Generation Z and a Brooklyn-based teacher, I worry that relying on technology for instruction will only exacerbate the situation. tech-tragedy” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Negative effects of excessive screen time.

I got my first iPhone when I turned 11. It was the beginning of sixth grade, braces, and the descent into the digital world. In these preteen years, I never understood why my parents asked me how much time I spent on my phone. I was just texting my friends, sending memes, sharing homework answers, and talking to each other about school crushes.

For me, it was the same as talking in person at each other's houses, only without the hassle of deciding which parent would drive us there. My parents, however, saw my phone use as a way to isolate me from the family even when we were in the same room. The phone had become a teenage addiction… and not just for me.

Recent investigation has shown how screen time, specifically time on smartphones, shapes our brains into adolescence and adulthood. In his widely discussed book 2024 “The anxious generation” Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt details how the cultural shift from a “play-based childhood” to a “phone-based childhood” corresponds to the rise in mental illness in adolescents. haid quote data showing that since 2010, there has been a 139% increase in anxiety among 18- to 25-year-olds and a 145% and 161% increase in depression among adolescents and children, respectively.

Unfortunately, these figures are not surprising. They reflect my experience and that of my friends as we switched antidepressants, sat in bed fatally scrolling, and resented our peers with more likes and followers. We remember our pre-iPhone days, when we used to explore the neighborhood and were left to our own devices (no devices!) to tackle social, emotional, and physical challenges without adult intervention, a concept Haidt describes as “free play”.

The only place I was free from the pressure of taking photos and moving around was at school. I fell in love with English and American history and was eager to participate in class debates and discussions. These classes were opportunities for connection.

However, as Chromecarts arrived around 8th or 9th grade, the connection waned. Many STEM classes were technology-intensive, with pre-existing modules that students could follow independently with little interaction with peers and teachers. Remote learning at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic only made things worse.

When I started teaching at a high school in Brooklyn last year, I realized that my students experienced this technological attack long before I did. I was wondering how they managed to complete third and fourth grade virtually. How did they develop critical reading, math, social, emotional, and executive functioning skills while sitting behind a computer, tablet, or phone? How did they grow up without the much-needed free play?

The reality is that many of them didn't.

Several of my students in this age group entered high school with the same background knowledge they had before the year and a half of digital learning. In an American history lesson, for example, my seventh graders were taking turns reading a passage about the Compromise of 1850. As the different groups read, I encountered confusion over the pronunciation of the words “Kansas” and “Missouri.” They didn't seem to be the typical errors that arise from skipping words or mixing up letters, it was as if they had never seen the names of these states before. The same looks appeared when I asked him what nouns and verbs are, or counting in groups of seven or eight. Didn't you learn this in third grade? I thought. Then I remembered what happened when they were in third grade.

Fortunately, this group of students has made tremendous academic and social-emotional gains since returning to the physical classroom. However, when they returned, they brought with them habits that reinforce the need for instant gratification.

With a Chromebook by their side all day, they will often Google answers to any and all questions, including those that ask for their opinions and analysis. Nowadays, it is common to give up memorizing phone numbers and addresses of friends and, following the same logic, multiplication tables and rudimentary spelling. Why memorize the product of 6 and 8, or the difference between “there” and “their,” or learn to read an analog clock When can you search for it? And how can we expect our students to learn this basic knowledge without giving them the opportunity to overcome the learning challenge?

When schoolwork and peers get boring or frustrating, they may fill their time (or avoid difficult conversations) by scrolling through Pinterest, Google Images, or surreptitiously perusing Snapchat. I don't blame them: I've also developed a habit of filling stressful, idle moments with aimless scrolling. But when we lose boredomwe lose space for creativity and reflection; When we run away from our problems, we cannot learn to solve them.

As I plan this school year, I'm meticulously walking a fine digital line: I want to encourage independent and flexible work habits, which can be accomplished with online assignments. However, I also want to encourage interdependent thinking and discussion skills, which are harder to achieve on a screen.

I think teaching digital literacy and screen hygiene is the most responsible approach to addressing the issue, but to be effective, we need more Gen Z educators to be honest about their own relationship with technology. We didn't know its harmful impacts or addictive nature in the days of Kik and Omegle., c. 2013. Now that we do, we can equip our students with the tools to avoid this teenage addiction.

chalk beat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.

Related:
5 Ways to Manage Student Screen Time
Lax cell phone policies in New York schools burden teachers and leave students confused
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