Technology has transformed almost every part of our lives, so it was probably inevitable that it would transform our classrooms too.

Over the past decade, laptops, Chromebooks, tablets, educational apps and, more recently, artificial intelligence have become a normal part of the school day. For many students, opening a computer is now as routine as opening a textbook once was.

But I’ve been wondering whether we moved a little too quickly.

My interest in this started after reading an article about New York Times technology reporter Natasha Singer and what has sometimes been described as “Chromebook remorse.” Singer has spent years examining the relationship between technology companies and schools, including the enormous influence companies such as Google and Microsoft have had on educational technology.

Her reporting raises a question that I think deserves much more attention:

Did we put technology into our children's classrooms faster than we figured out whether it was actually helping them learn?

That is not the same as saying technology is bad.

Children growing up today absolutely need to understand computers. They need digital literacy. They need to know how to evaluate information online. And with artificial intelligence rapidly becoming part of the workplace, I believe students will eventually need to understand AI as well.

But knowing how to use technology is different from having technology occupy a large part of every school day.

There is an important distinction between teaching children about technology and using technology to teach children almost everything else.

A computer can provide extraordinary educational resources. It can help a student research a subject, practice a skill, communicate with a teacher and access information that would have been unimaginable a generation ago.

At the same time, every parent and teacher knows what else a screen can do.

It can distract.

It can shorten attention spans.

It can make it easier to jump from one thing to another without concentrating deeply on any of them.

And increasingly, technology can do some of the thinking for the student.

That last part may become the biggest issue of all.

California is already wrestling with this contradiction.

On one hand, the state has moved to restrict student smartphone use during the school day. California's Phone-Free School Act required school districts to establish policies limiting or prohibiting smartphone use, reflecting growing concern about distraction, mental health and the effect phones can have on learning.

Interestingly for Torrance readers, Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi was one of the lawmakers behind that legislation.

At the same time, California is moving in the opposite direction when it comes to artificial intelligence, encouraging schools to begin incorporating AI literacy into education.

I actually think both ideas can make sense.

We should prepare children for the technological world they are going to inherit.

But preparing them for that world does not necessarily mean giving technology an unlimited role in their childhood.

Maybe the question we should be asking isn't whether schools should use technology.

Of course they should.

The better question is how much, at what age, and for what purpose?

Should a first-grader spend significant portions of the school day looking at a screen?

Should reading increasingly take place on a Chromebook rather than from a book?

Should handwritten assignments disappear?

Should AI help students write papers?

Should an educational app replace time spent directly interacting with a teacher?

And perhaps most importantly, who should decide?

Teachers?

Parents?

School districts?

Technology companies?

These aren't easy questions, which is exactly why I think we should be discussing them.

I don't want our schools to turn back the clock. A classroom completely disconnected from technology would do students a disservice.

But I also don't think every technological innovation deserves a place in the classroom simply because it exists.

For years, we tended to assume that putting more technology into schools represented progress.

I'm no longer sure that is always true.

Sometimes the best educational technology may be a Chromebook.

Sometimes it may be a pencil, a book, a teacher and twenty minutes without a screen.

Perhaps the goal shouldn't be more technology or less technology.

It should be using technology when it genuinely improves learning — and being willing to put it away when it doesn't.

That's something I think is worth talking about.

What Do You Think?

Should K–12 schools reduce the amount of time students spend using screens and digital devices during the school day?