Schools across America are quietly admitting that screens in classrooms made students worse off and are reversing years of tech-first policies
When McPherson Middle School in central Kansas banned cell phones in school four years ago, they didn’t reconsider the school-issued Google Chromebooks that were actively being used in the classroom and at home. It wasn’t until December of last year it asked its 480 students to give up the laptops as well.Recommended Video Administrators found that without their phones, students were using school laptops for distracting activities like watching YouTube or playing games, rather than learning. Some were even using their school Gmail accounts to tease other students, the New York Times reported earlier this year.
- ▪When McPherson Middle School in central Kansas banned cell phones in school four years ago, they didn’t reconsider the school-issued Google Chromebooks that were actively being used in the classroom and at home.
- ▪It wasn’t until December of last year it asked its 480 students to give up the laptops as well.Recommended Video Administrators found that without their phones, students were using school laptops for distracting activities like watching You
- ▪Some were even using their school Gmail accounts to tease other students, the New York Times reported earlier this year.
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| Original publisher | Fortune |
| Canonical URL | https://fortune.com/article/schools-abandoning-chromebooks-laptop-programs-as-screen-time-hurts-learning-test-scores-north-carolina-michigan-kansas-tech-education/ |
| Publication time | Sat, 25 Jul 2026 13:11:19 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-07-25T13:42:14.435Z |
| Last seen | 2026-07-25T13:42:14.435Z |
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Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
When McPherson Middle School in central Kansas banned cell phones in school four years ago, they didn’t reconsider the school-issued Google Chromebooks that were actively being used in the classroom and at home. It wasn’t until December of last year it asked its 480 students to give up the laptops as well.Recommended Video Administrators found that without their phones, students were using school laptops for distracting activities like watching YouTube or playing games, rather than learning. Some were even using their school Gmail accounts to tease other students, the New York Times reported earlier this year. Now, the school has transitioned to using laptops only for specific teacher-assigned activities.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Fortune.
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