Picture of Students at South Salem High School using School-Issued Devices taken by Noelle Miller
The majority of K-12 schools in the U.S. have school-issued devices for students. Is it causing major problems in and out of the classroom?
In a 2022-2023 survey from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics, it was shown that 94-99% of U.S. public schools provided children with devices. Including but not limited to Chromebooks, laptops, iPads and android tablets. Schools typically provide these devices so that students can work on school assignments their teacher has assigned. But, with many distractions on these devices, it is harming children’s attention spans and the responsibility to do their classwork.
Many kids have a hard time with school. Especially when they have the ability to play games instead of doing work. Typically, they usually choose the fun and easier option, while leaving their work untouched.
A Real World Impact
In an article with NBC, a mother from L.A. explains that her son used to be an amazing student. Although, once he started 6 grade, he started bringing home D’s and F’s and it crushed his self-esteem. His mother eventually found out that he was doing poorly because it was difficult resisting the temptation of playing on his school-issued iPad.
“It makes no sense to me, we have banned the cellphones, but it doesn’t matter, because the kids are using the school-issued devices in exactly the same way.” The mother said in the article.
The Impact Devices Have on South Salem High School
The same can be said for a number of students attending South Salem High School. With Yondr Pouches going into full effect and locking away students’ personal distractions. It has given students an excuse to start playing games and scrolling through social media on their school-issued Chromebook. Rather than actively participating in class or doing their schoolwork.
Many game websites are blocked, but students still find ways to get into different gaming websites as there are thousands available on the internet. Social media websites such as TikTok, Instagram and YouTube are unblocked. This leaves students with the temptation of doom scrolling instead of doing their work. It can be very distracting when other students are on websites they are not supposed to be on. As they tend to overreact with whatever they are watching or playing. If they are watching a basketball livestream on YouTube and their team loses, they yell out loud and disrupt the class. When some students play games and they lose, they become disruptive. On the website EPPC, a mother wrote that her daughter was having trouble focusing on her teacher in school. Due to kids next to her playing video games on their tablets and being incredibly disruptive.
“When I see someone playing a game on their chromebooks I think ‘Wow how distracting now I am unable to work on my assignments and I am going to fall behind.’” Eleanor Zapien ‘28 said.
Even though some websites may seem innocent towards students, one third of teens have viewed pornography during the school day. 44% of those students having viewed it on school-issued devices.
The Effects Video Games Have on the Brain
School-issued devices are not only distracting towards other students when used inappropriately, but it can harm the brain of the user. In Norway, a study was conducted where they used MRI scans of 8-12 year old students. The study found that students who spent more time reading paper books showed stronger reading circuits in their brains. Compared to those who spent their time on screens. In May 2025, a group of neuroscientists from Teachers College of Columbia University found evidence of children’s brains processing written texts more deeply when presented in print rather than on a digital screen.
Researchers have also discovered that video games can be addictive, which is known as internet gaming disorder. For those addicted to video games, there are functional and structural alterations in the neural reward system. This is a group of structures associated with feeling pleasure, motivation and learning. Exposing video game addicts to game-related suggestions caused cravings for them. By monitoring their brain responses, it was found that this is a common thing among other addictive disorders.
Loss of Opportunities Due to Devices
In 1970, the average age of someone who was introduced to media on a regular basis was someone of four years of age. Now, in 2025 the average age is four months old.
When school-issued devices are being given to children at the young age of five, they can lose the ability to learn new skills through normal human interaction. When children interact with adults, it can help with their development of language skills. However, when an adult hands a young child an electronic device, the child can lose many chances to work on their language skills because instead of interacting with their parent or teacher, the child is glued to a screen and losing important chances to work on their life skills, such as developing language.
