We Must Protect Students From Excessive Screen Time
Alicia Simba, a Bay Area kindergarten teacher, wrote an opinion piece in EdSource about excessive screen time for students. She herself has seen the harm that screens can do to her students as young as pre-K. Excessive screen time and social media have been linked to increased anxiety and depression. Screens have destroyed our students’ attention spans, to the point they can barely get through being read a bedtime story. Schooltime screen restrictions are necessary to wean students off of screens and give them back their attention spans, their imagination, and their social skills.
Simba advocates for parents to reduce screen time at home, but the first step is to reduce screen time in schools. San Francisco Unified School District does not yet have a unified screen time in schools policy, and relies heavily on Chromebooks and other technology in the classroom. We call for SFUSD to follow Los Angeles and other school districts and eliminate screen based learning for preK to second grade. This move will break the ice on helping our students’ emotional and social development.
Alicia Simba/EdSource
Alicia Simba | EdSource | August 9th, 2026
