Schools try to block dangerous & distracting sites. It doesn’t work.
For years, tech giants and “edtech” companies have been promoting 1:1 classroom device use as the future of education. Many school districts have adopted this model and have attempted to regulate the content that is accessible via school devices.
The hard truth is, that regulation doesn’t work. Time after time, students find ways to get around content restrictions and page blockers to browse the internet, sometimes on inappropriate sites, or to play games.
Another hard truth: this is in no way our students fault. Big tech companies have invested billions upon billions of dollars into creating products that are explicitly addictive. Unfortunately, 1:1 device time in schools is not immune to that fact, and distraction is essentially imminent when games are often already downloaded onto the devices and students can work around restrictions.
We cannot expect children to exercise self-control that even adults struggle to have, while their brains, self regulation, and self control itself are still developing. Seventy percent of educators surveyed by the New York Times believe that school issues devices distract from learning and engagement in class. One survey found that distraction from screen time amounted to 31 lost instructional days every single year.
We cannot sit back and allow our students to suffer at the hands of big tech. That’s why we launched a campaign to decrease screen time in elementary schools and eliminate student facing AI. Students deserve to live and learn without being shuffled into the tech product pipeline.
Amr Bo Shanab | Getty Images
Jackie Mader | Hechinger Report | July 8, 2026
