Laura Lai explains developmental research basis for screen time limits
Laura Lai explains DOE took a developmentally based approach, noting stronger research on screen time impacts in early years for language acquisition and psychological development, and that some limited examples show benefits under teacher supervision for older students.
Thank you, First Deputy Chancellor, and thank you for the question.
We really took a very developmentally based approach to both our screen time and our AI policies.
We spent a good amount of time looking at the research, both with regard to child development and also with regard to outcomes with these types of tools.
I'll say first of all that the child development research has a much stronger foundation in terms of looking at the types of impacts that screen time can have on behavior, language acquisition,
psychological development, attention span, and all of those concerns that so many people have about screens.
And that a lot of the most foundational aspects of child development are taking place in those earlier years and are most highly impacted by screens.
Our policy is not trying to say that there's no impact later on.
We thought that the most impactful period of time
were those early years when children are acquiring language and basically learning how to learn for the first time, learning how to read and do all of those things.
As children, the research as children get older, what we found was that there are examples, although limited, and I do want to emphasize that in looking at the research on specific tools,
as I'm sure you're probably aware, a lot of that research comes from vendors.
And so it's very difficult to find peer-reviewed, independent academic studies on specific tools, for example.
But there are some examples that show that under teacher supervision, for example, tutoring programs can be impactful when combined with teacher instruction.
And to your question about what is screen time, is that just kids sitting on a computer, or is that actually active, engaged, teacher-directed learning?
When combined with those types of conditions, teacher-based, short periods of time, instructionally directed, there can be benefits.
And so we wanted to find opportunities as students progress through elementary school and then into middle school to have opportunities to engage in those types of experiences on a very limited basis.