DIGITAL LIMITATIONS

Once, education was about engaging with the real world—handling physical objects, writing by hand, reading from books, debating ideas face-to-face. Now, it has been digitized, gamified, and increasingly divorced from reality. The promise of digital learning was that it would make education more engaging and efficient. Instead, it made students more distracted and less capable of sustained thought.

The evidence is mounting. Studies show that students who take notes by hand retain more information than those who type on a laptop. A 2021 study published in Computers & Education found that students who used paper performed significantly better in comprehension tests than those using tablets. Meanwhile, the rise of digital learning has been accompanied by a collapse in reading stamina. Teachers across the world report that students struggle to focus on long-form texts, accustomed instead to the rapid-fire stimulus of TikTok videos and algorithm-driven feeds. The digital tools meant to enhance learning have, in many cases, eroded the very cognitive abilities needed to learn deeply.

Nowhere is this clearer than in the case of smartphones. Schools that have banned or severely restricted cellphone use have seen immediate improvements in student focus, behavior, and academic performance. A study by the London School of Economics found that schools that banned phones saw a 6% increase in student test scores, with the greatest benefits for low-income students. France, recognizing the corrosive effects of smartphone addiction, has banned phones in schools nationwide for students under 15. In the U.S., students check their phones more than 100 times per day on average, reducing class time to a battle between teachers and the attention economy. A device designed to hijack focus and sell advertisements should never have been allowed into the classroom in the first place.

The push to digitize education has often been driven by what is most profitable for tech companies. Google, Apple, and Microsoft have aggressively lobbied schools to replace textbooks with digital devices, despite the lack of evidence that this improves learning. The result? Students who type instead of write, swipe instead of think, and depend on spell-check to correct words they no longer recognize. Meanwhile, the personal data of millions of children is harvested by private corporations, creating permanent digital profiles before students are old enough to understand the consequences.

The most successful education systems in the world place clear limits on digital technology. Finland delays formal digital learning until students have mastered handwriting, reading, and critical thinking. Their emphasis on low-tech, high-engagement learning produces students who consistently outperform their peers in more tech-saturated systems. In contrast, American schools, under pressure to modernize, increasingly substitute screen-based learning for real-world engagement, with declining results.

Education is about depth, not speed. It is better to read one book deeply than to skim 100 articles online. It is better to struggle through a math problem by hand than to have an app solve it instantly. It is better to engage in live discussion than to complete an algorithm-graded quiz. Digital tools have their place—but that place must be carefully defined, with strict boundaries to ensure that technology serves
education rather than replaces it.

If we do not draw these limits, we will raise generations incapable of deep thought, addicted to distraction, and dependent on machines to do their thinking for them. Education must be about training minds, not outsourcing cognition to screens.

Therefore, under Folklaw:

Digital technology in schools shall be strictly limited. Cellphones shall be banned for students during school hours, through to high school.

Laptops and tablets shall be restricted to specific educational purposes, with a preference for handwritten work, printed books, and direct teacher instruction. No private company shall collect student data for profit. Schools shall prioritize deep learning over digital convenience.