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Should students in elementary school be using laptops, tablets or cell phones during school or extended day learning?
Research says no, especially in the younger grades (preschool to 3rd grade) and limited amounts between 4th and 8th grades.
Dr. Jean Twenge, a professor at San Diego State University, has studied generational changes and states that in 2012 the greatest change in adolescence mental health emerged. Loneliness and self-harm quadrupled in girls ages 10 to 14. One of the major reasons the lawsuit against Meta was filed and eventually settled. Countries like Denmark severely limited screen time and prevented phones and tablets from being used during the school day. They found that there was a significant increase in positive behavior.
Cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Jared Horvath stated in his senate testimony that Gen Z and Gen Alpha kids are less cognitively capable than older generations were at their age. In the past, every generation has outperformed the previous generation, but not Gen Z and Gen Alpha. They attend more hours in the school day than their parents, but are consistently underachieving. The areas of struggle include attention, literacy, numeracy, setting goals, planning, solving problems and impulse control.
Recently, I’m seeing more conferences promoting “How to use AI in the classroom”, “Using AI to drive what students are learning”. I’ll admit, I use AI. I use AI to help with formatting my blog posts or coming up with headlines and subject lines. I provide it with a few ideas, give my point of view and then let AI assist. I’ll review what it comes with and make decisions from there. I even tried using it to help spark ideas for math game ideas. I find it very poor at this, as directions are vague and the ideas are very simplistic.
But I have years of schooling and a long life of experiences to fall back on that has helped me detect bias, form my own opinions, and think critically & creatively. How do we expect children to have these higher levels of thinking if they are allowed to have machines do their thinking and creating for them?
As I pointed out above, there is enough research out there now that shows the latest generation of students aren’t achieving as well as past generations. And the tech giants know this because they overwhelmingly limit the amount of screen time their own children get, just 90 minutes a week!. Tech billionaires are publicly shielding their children from products that made them rich (Fortune, July 12, 2026). They state that they prefer that their children read, go outside, play with friends, go to museums, and talk around the dinner table.
Public school districts like New York City and Los Angeles have banned student-facing generative AI for children pre-school through 8th grade and are keeping young children away from individual tablets and laptops through third grade. I applaud this move and hope more schools and after-school programs will follow.
With mathematics, more and more research is showing that students need physical objects to increase brain development and students who do use physical objects outperform their peers. The National Institute of Health states that multisensory approaches to mathematics help bridge the gap between concrete actions and high-level abstract reasoning.
The National Afterschool Association is calling on U.S states to invest some of the Meta $18 billion over 10-years settlement to expand and strengthen afterschool and summer programs. Afterschool programs act as a vital front line against youth isolation and create positive extended day learning.
MANGO Math is a great addition to these front line programs. Students that succeed in math are more likely to succeed in other subjects, like literacy and science, and their social skills improve. Math builds a strong cognitive foundation that drives critical thinking, problem-solving, as well as higher future earnings. With MANGO Math we emphasize cooperative & collaborative learning, teaching students to work together to solve problems, express their ideas. Students develop a deeper understanding of number sense as they play games that reinforce mathematical concepts.
As research indicates, we need to help students develop critical thinking and executive function. Hands-on, in-person learning is the best way to establish this so that this current generation succeeds beyond their families wildest dreams.
It’s inevitable that our younger generations will be more online and that AI will be a part of their future. But building a strong foundation away from screens will allow these things to be tools to use, not crutches to rely on. That’s what we can give our students.
Not created or checked with AI, sorry if there are typos.
Enjoy Math,
Mary Curry
Founder of MANGO Math
