Laptops in School May Be Driving a Two-Decade Slump in Kids’ Test Scores
As educators reel from concerns that generative AI is upending education, one expert argues that the real technological threat in classrooms has been staring us in the face for decades: laptops. In a New York Times opinion piece, psychology professor Jean M. Twenge of San Diego State University suggests that the decline in standardized test scores among American students—now at their lowest point in twenty years in 2023 and 2024—may be connected to ubiquitous device use. The trend appears global: in 2022, the performance of 15-year-olds in math, reading, and science reached a historic low. “these days, nearly every middle and high school student — and a good number in the elementary grades as well — brings a laptop or tablet to school and uses it at home for homework,” observed Twenge, who has been researching how smartphones affect academic performance, as well as our mental health generally, for nearly a decade. But “although it once seemed like a good idea to give every child his or her own device,” Twenge added, “it’s clear that those policies have been a failure.” A lot of focus has been paid to smartphone’s soul-sucking, attention-span-destroying effects, which are hard to ignore since they’re everywhere. Schools, seeing the writing on the wall, have started banning phones — but not laptops, even though a portable computer can do everything distracting a smartphone can do, and perhaps more. It doesn’t help that many schools provide and even mandate that students be able to use laptops in class, meaning that parents can’t ask teachers or administrators to take the laptops away. Twenge points to an overwhelming body of evidence on how disruptive these devices can be. A 2016 study of Michigan State college students, for example, found that they on average spent 40 percent of their time in class scrolling social media, checking email, or watching videos. In other words, not learning. A damning 2018 meta analysis of 24 studies found that college students who typed their notes were 75 percent more likely to fail the course than those who hand wrote them. And in her own study published last month in The Journal of Adolescence, Twenge found that standardized test scores in math, reading, and science dropped more in countries where students spent more time using devices like laptops for leisure purposes during the school day, compared to countries where they spent less time. Finland — “once known for having one of the best school systems in the world,” according to Twenge — is a dispiriting case in point. In 2022, Finnish students admitted to screwing around on their devices for nearly 90 minutes per day at school. Coincidentally, their test scores nosedived between 2006 and 2022. Compared that to Japan, Twenge says, where students spend less than 30 minutes of leisurely time on their devices during the school day, and where academic performance has remained steady. “It seems ridiculous to have to say this, but digital distraction is terrible for academic performance,” Twenge wrote, citing a 2021 study. “The more time college students spent doing something else on their laptops during class, the lower their exam scores, even after accounting for academic ability.” More on education: Parents Using ChatGPT to Rear Their Children.
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From Phones to Laptops The Policy That Missed the Real Threat
While smartphones have faced bans in many schools, laptops are still widely allowed, and in some places mandated. Twenge notes that this double standard may be a key to the problem. She argues that digital distraction is broader than phones and that the same or greater disruptions come from laptops. “although it once seemed like a good idea to give every child his or her own device,” Twenge added, “it’s clear that those policies have been a failure.” A portable computer can do everything distracting a smartphone can do, and perhaps more. The policy landscape has left parents unable to ask teachers or administrators to pull the laptops away, even when the distraction is obvious.
A Mountain of Evidence How Devices Distract and Undermine Learning
There is a mounting body of evidence that digital devices disrupt classroom engagement and achievement. A 2016 study of Michigan State college students, for example, found that they on average spent 40 percent of their time in class scrolling social media, checking email, or watching videos. In other words, not learning. A damning 2018 meta analysis of 24 studies found that college students who typed their notes were 75 percent more likely to fail the course than those who hand wrote them. And in her own study published last month in The Journal of Adolescence, Twenge found that standardized test scores in math, reading, and science dropped more in countries where students spent more time using devices like laptops for leisure purposes during the school day, compared to countries where they spent less time.
Finland and Japan A Tale of Screens and Time
Finland — “once known for having one of the best school systems in the world,” according to Twenge — is a dispiriting case in point. In 2022, Finnish students admitted to screwing around on their devices for nearly 90 minutes per day at school. Coincidentally, their test scores nosedived between 2006 and 2022. Compared that to Japan, Twenge says, where students spend less than 30 minutes of leisurely time on their devices during the school day, and where academic performance has remained steady. “It seems ridiculous to have to say this, but digital distraction is terrible for academic performance,” Twenge wrote, citing a 2021 study. “The more time college students spent doing something else on their laptops during class, the lower their exam scores, even after accounting for academic ability.” I’m a tech and science correspondent for Futurism, where I’m particularly interested in astrophysics, the business and ethics of artificial intelligence and automation, and the environment.
What This Means for Schools and the Future of Learning
More on education: Parents Using ChatGPT to Rear Their Children I’m a tech and science correspondent for Futurism, where I’m particularly interested in astrophysics, the business and ethics of artificial intelligence and automation, and the environment. This perspective reinforces the need to reassess policies that assume more devices equal better outcomes. The evidence Twenge highlights suggests that digital distraction undermines learning opportunities, and that schools must address how devices are used during instructional time.
