For years, classrooms were focused on making learning more digital.
Learning management systems like Google Classroom, Moodle and Blackboard took off in the mid-2000s and 2010s. Paper grade books were replaced by online portals that allow students and parents to track grades and assignments. Digital devices like smart whiteboards, laptops and iPads became available to students in increasingly smaller ratios.
Now, some schools are asking students to close those computers.
Across the country, educators and policymakers are reconsidering how much screen time belongs in the classroom. After years of investing in digital learning integration, some school districts are beginning to limit device use and reflect on growing concerns about distraction, attention span and technology use.
Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second largest school district, is among the most prominent examples. Beginning in the 2026-27 school year, LAUSD is implementing new limits on student screen use, from eliminating regular device use for students through first grade to enacting new screen time caps for older students. The district is also encouraging off-screen activities such as reading, writing and hands-on learning, according to the LAUSD website.
This shift exemplifies a larger national reconsideration on student screen policies. According to Ballotpedia, as of 2026, at least 14 states have considered legislation to limit student screen time use in schools. Alabama, Tennessee, and Utah have already implemented such policies.
Even the federal government has entered the conversation. On Aug. 20, 2026, the US Department of Education released new guidance advising schools on responsible technology use in classrooms. They advised teachers to use technology for instructional value, rather than just entertainment, by utilizing outcome-based evidence and educator judgement.
The message is clear: schools are no longer asking whether they can put technology in classrooms. Instead, the question has turned to if they should.
But for students who have grown up with digital tools as part of their learning, the answer isn’t so simple.
The COVID-19 pandemic contextualizes this conflict. When schools were forced to move instruction online nearly overnight, it accelerated a technology shift that was already underway.
Federal funding for pandemic relief enabled schools to purchase greater amounts of digital support. Data from the National Center for Education Statistics found that by the 2024-25 school year, 88% of public schools had a 1:1 device program where each student was assigned their own school-issued device such as a laptop or iPad.
The unprecedented pandemic shift set education systems up for a new era of digital integration that not all districts were prepared for. New limitations considered by districts like LAUSD reflect corrective measures from several years of perhaps insufficiently prepared device use.
Devices were integrated in hopes of producing learning benefits, many of which are evident in the education system today.
For many students, digital devices have become their textbooks, grade books, assignment trackers, organizational tools and more. Technology can provide accessibility features and allow teachers to present information in more interactive and flexible ways.
But the same devices also have drawbacks that some districts are beginning to recognize and act upon. A laptop can contain a digital textbook at the same time it provides access to social media, video games and other non-educational entertainment. Their distracting nature and difficulty to monitor can just as easily make them a hindrance to real learning.
For students, the debate can be difficult to separate from everyday schoolwork.
“I don’t think the laptops are necessarily the problem,” said a sophomore at Monte Vista High School. “It’s more about whether you’re actually using it for what you’re supposed to be doing.”
Indeed, in some classes, it may be difficult to take away or even substantially limit the use of devices that have become so integrated into student life. Research assignments rely on online databases and web searches. Language classes utilize audio and video resources. Even science classes can involve things like simulations and online models.
As more and more schools begin to reconsider their device usage policies, the conversation is shifting from whether technology belongs in classrooms to how it should be used.
For students who have grown up during the rapid expansion of classroom technology, these changes represent a different approach to a tool that has become a routine part of their education.
The laptop may still have a place in the classroom. The question now is when it belongs on the desk.
