One of the loudest concerns over the last year has been the growing unease over students’ use of technology in school. A congressional hearing lit a fire on an already simmering debate around mobile devices and social media in the hands of the nation’s youth. Emboldened by successful mobile device restrictions being considered or adopted in 44 states, there are now efforts to restrict school-issued devices using justifications ranging from mental health and distraction to student achievement. While well-meaning in most cases, this new “techlash” is aiming at the wrong target.

Rather than placing largely arbitrary age or time-based limits on screen time, at ABC Unified, we focus on screen value. This perspective grew out of our district’s Digital Wellbeing Task Force, a teacher-driven effort we took on last year, led by our Instructional Technology team. The group explored healthy approaches to technology use and screen time and shared their findings across our school campuses.

To further share this work, we recently hosted a parent symposium, Navigating Student Screen Time, for the educational community. The event, produced in collaboration with ABC Adult School, featured remarks from Superintendent Dr. Gina Zietlow, speaker and author Kunal Dalal, and a panel of students facilitated by Chad Laines, our instructional technology program specialist. Attendees received free dinner, live translation, and childcare. Zietlow provided every attendee with a copy of “Growing Up in Public,” by Dr. Devorah Heitner. But perhaps the most important part was the dedicated time provided for an interactive Q&A session. We leveraged Mentimeter, an online engagement tool that allows attendees to ask questions, review those posed by others and upvote those they’d like to hear answered. Those in attendance had a wide range of questions, and district leaders and even student speakers were able to respond to their most-asked questions in real time.

We found that all of us, students, parents and staff, had deep concerns about mindless screen time and AI-related privacy issues. We all actively seek out strategies to shift to using our hands in more productive ways. Kunal’s keynote, Remembering Our Hands, provided useful approaches to engaging children (and ourselves) in more constructive (and meaning-making) experiences. He shared: “The same hands and eyes that mastered the swipe are the same hands and eyes that can build, grow, cook, and play music.” He ended his talk by accompanying the group in song on the mandolin, an instrument he’s still learning.
Furthering our efforts, I joined a coalition to advocate for digital wellbeing to be included in our schools (AB 2071), which was recently signed into law. Rather than ban or restrict usage, this bill requires schools to teach digital wellness in health classes, focusing on how screens, social media and AI can affect mental health. And best of all, it was the brainchild of a California high school student, Elise Choi, a high school fellow at the Media Education Lab. It aligns with our district’s vision: to truly prepare our students for a healthy future, we must offer a balanced instructional approach.
As my district’s IT director, I think it’s important for parenting adults to hear me agree that mindless drill-and-kill activities in the classroom are not effective, and sometimes a pencil, crayon or workbook is the right tool for the task. But here’s the key point: Adopting time or age restrictions provides no guarantee that those minutes on screens will be used constructively, rather than as a reward or reflexively just because it’s there. We’re inviting our community into the conversation to craft how we can best ensure that time spent on devices is used intentionally and deliberately to positively impact student learning. That’s why I’ve changed my department name from “Information & Technology” to “Intentional Technology” for the 2026-2027 school year. It’s not a gimmick — it’s a shared commitment to remind everyone that technology is not here for its own sake, but for the value it can bring to learning.
Mike Lawrence is the director of Intentional Technology at ABC Unified School District.