In 2002, Maine became the first state to implement a statewide laptop program to some grade levels. Then-governor Angus King saw the program as a way to put the internet at the fingertips of more children, who would be able to immerse themselves in information.
By that fall, the Maine Learning Technology Initiative had distributed 17,000 Apple laptops to seventh graders across 243 middle schools. By 2016, those numbers had multiplied to 66,000 laptops and tablets distributed to Maine students.
King’s initial efforts have been mirrored across the country. In 2024, the U.S. spent more than $30 billion putting laptops and tablets in schools. But more than a quarter-century and numerous evolving models of technology later, psychologists and learning experts see a different outcome than the one King intended. Rather than empowering the generation with access to more knowledge, the technology had the opposite effect.
Fully back up your theory for the main cause. Screen time has vastly taken over the times of students as their brains are developing and by and large it feeds the least enriching, least challenging content as it has the highest propensity for addiction (under the guise of user retention)
I predict we’ll view this experiment with the same confused disgust as we do when we hear that doctors used to prescribe cocaine for pretty much anything. The software engineers who aided any of this are going to be ashamed of their work.