Last week, I had the privilege of hearing Dr. Yoni Schwab of the Shefa School speak about children, technology and social media—a topic made urgent by thinkers like Dr. Jonathan Haidt, whose “The Anxious Generation” sounds an alarm on technology’s role in shaping young minds. Schwab’s presentation left me reflecting not just on the dangers of tech for kids, but also on the opportunity for schools to consider a radical but time-tested reversal.

A Dangerous Drug for Developing Minds

Let’s start with the facts: technology is a drug, and a particularly dangerous one for children. Age matters. Kids aren’t equipped to handle the psychological weight of platforms designed to hijack attention.

The argument that children need early exposure to tech because it will dominate their adult lives is, frankly, nonsense. Consider driving—a fundamental skill for adults. It’s age-gated for good reasons: maturity and judgment reduce risks for both the driver and others. Voting, another cornerstone of adult responsibility, is similarly age-restricted, not because children lack intellect but because judgment develops over time. Why, then, are we so eager to hand them tools designed to exploit their still-developing minds?

Pencils, Paper and The False Promise of Educational Tech

Despite widespread acknowledgment of technology’s harms, our schools are saturated with it. Yet pencils and paper—tools that served this republic for 240 years—suddenly seem pass? in the race to integrate “innovative” approaches.

Part of this stems from a tech-first educational model pitched as fiscally expedient about a decade ago. Schools using technology as a differentiator forced traditional institutions to play catch-up. Prospective parents asked, “What’s your tech strategy?” and schools scrambled to answer. The result? Classrooms that leverage screens with increased frequency throughout the educational journey.

Time for a Reversal

Here’s my theory: schools fear that abandoning tech will make them look like dinosaurs. It’s also hard to implement because tech makes everything easier—hence its addictiveness.

To our community’s educational leaders, you are commendable for preaching the dangers of tech at home—no smartphones for middle schoolers, limited social media for high schoolers—while lamenting kids’ rising anxiety and depression. But it’s also necessary to consider the devices humming away during the school day. It’s not just the evenings and weekends that matter.

The solution is staring us in the face. Turn off the machines during school hours. Lock the chrome books and tablets in a closet. Let kids type their papers at home, but bring back pencils and paper during class. It’s not regressive; it’s intentional for their ultimate benefit.

The Camp Lesson

We can learn from sleepaway camps, which cultivate independence and resilience by creating tech-free zones. Camps strip away the distractions of devices, replacing them with human connection, creativity and the joy of being present. Kids emerge from those summers more self-assured and less tethered to dopamine hits from screens. Imagine the continued advantage if our schools do the same.

Before It’s Too Late

We all truly care about our kids, the next generation. Let’s embrace a reduction in screen time, gaming and social media usage at home and consider similar reductions during the vast majority of our children’s waking hours at school. I am preaching against tech in kids’ free time as well as suggesting we reconsider its overuse during school hours. Lean into the values of intentionality and focus, turning classrooms into havens of undistracted learning.

Because if we don’t take the machines offline now, it might soon become too late to undo the damage.