Covid launched a new era of technology-led learning. Now, some parents and school districts are ready to toss devices
Dr. Yair Lev said his second-grade daughter suddenly went silent midsentence as she scrolled through a math app on her school-issued Chromebook last year. Her eyes glazed over like a “zombie.” His daughter appeared to be overwhelmed by the stimulation from her device. She struggled through passwords, folders and apps with her “little fingers typing and typing,” he said. “It was like a short circuit in her brain … she just lost immediately all connection with reality, with me, and me and my wife, we just stared at her in disbelief,” he said. “It was almost like a trance state.” That startling moment was a turning point for Lev’s family: Lev and several other parents are pushing the Lower Merion School District in suburban Philadelphia to change its policy on device-led learning and allow parents to opt out of devices altogether. A school board meeting earlier this year grew so…
