Hi Reader,

Last week a DocuSign landed in my inbox: an agreement to receive a Chromebook for my daughter’s first grade classroom. There was no opt-out. No “no thank you” box. Just a document outlining how the device would be used and what happens if it gets damaged.

My heart sank a little. Okay, let's be honest... my heart sank a lot. In my opinion, first grade feels way too young to hand a kid a laptop. I still don’t know exactly how it’ll be used in her classroom, and I have a lot of questions.

As is my usual M.O., I turned to the research to see what I could find. Here are three things that stuck with me:

Paper still beats screens for comprehension, especially for young kids. A 2024 meta-analysis of 49 studies found reading on paper edges out reading on screens and the gap is wider for younger, elementary-age kids. A separate analysis of children ages 1–8 found the same pattern with storybooks: the digital version tested lower on comprehension than the identical book in print.

Handwritten notes stick better than typed ones. In a study of fifth and ninth graders, kids took notes on a story using paper, a tablet, or a laptop. A week later, the handwriting group remembered the most. Ninth graders who wrote by hand recalled 26% of story details, versus 22% on tablet and just 19% on laptop. Researchers think it’s because writing by hand is slower, forcing kids to process instead of just transcribe.

School-issued devices are now a top classroom distraction. In one recent educator survey, 56% of teachers said off-task behavior on the very laptops schools handed out was a major distraction, ranking higher than personal cell phones.

Three things I’m planning to do:

1. Ask what “using the Chromebook” actually means, day to day. Ten minutes for one specific app is very different from it being the default way work gets done.
2. Ask about opting out of specific tools, even if I can’t opt out of the device itself. Many districts still let you decline individual apps, AI features, or data-sharing agreements one at a time.
3. Watch for what’s quietly disappearing, not just what’s showing up. If handwriting practice or physical books start fading out, that’s worth a conversation with the school.

As I was researching, I came across one teacher's story that's worth knowing about. Dylan Kane, a middle school math teacher, swapped Chromebooks for paper and pencil for an entire year, not out of ideology, but to test his own assumptions. What he found: quiz retakes nearly doubled once the friction of logins and dead batteries disappeared, and students engaged more with handwritten feedback than a digital dashboard. His takeaway isn’t “ban all screens.” It’s that it's important to take a second to evaluate whether the tech is actually serving its purpose (more efficiency / more ability to meet kids on their individual levels, etc.). Worth the full read →​

Hit reply and let me know where do you land on this? How much are your kids on devices during the school day? And how do you feel about it?

In Partnership,

Dr. Rupa

P.S. Don't forget to check out Tech Ready, my 5-week course for parents and tweens (5th–8th grade) to prepare for the first device.

P.P.S. If your kid's school or PTA is wrestling with issues around devices, I speak about raising kids in the digital age at schools regularly. Hit reply and shoot me an email if you're interested in learning more

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