The Fox News Rundown Business Rundown: The Push to Pull Tech Out of Classrooms
Apr 10, 2026
Emily Cherkin, a former middle school teacher turned screen time consultant and founder of the Unplug EdTech Toolkit, discusses the surge of school-provided devices and rising parent pushback. She describes how pandemic tech persisted in classrooms. Topics include always-online Chromebooks, data and privacy concerns, student workarounds, and alternatives like labs and tech literacy.
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Classroom Screen Use Varies Dramatically
- Device use varies widely by teacher and grade, from minimal use to four to six hours per day, making district-wide policy effects inconsistent.
- Cherkin warns this variation obscures true exposure, noting even kindergartners now get iPads during school time.
Filters Are Ineffective Against Student Workarounds
- Chromebooks function as constant internet gateways so filters are a temporary fix; students quickly find workarounds like VPNs.
- Cherkin calls content-blocking "digital whack-a" because kids routinely circumvent restrictions.
Large Share Of Classroom Screen Time Is Off Task
- Substantial off-task time erodes claimed educational gains: Cherkin cites research showing 38 minutes of every school hour on laptops is off-task.
- She links multitasking and fragmented attention to worse learning outcomes and cites The Digital Delusion.