Screens in classrooms under fire, weakening skills

Metro India News | Hyderabad : As schools increasingly turn to digital devices and educational applications, questions are being raised over whether technology is improving children's learning or gradually weakening the skills education is meant to develop. Actress and education campaigner Sophie Winkleman has challenged the growing reliance on educational technology, arguing that classrooms risk losing the human interaction, concentration and depth of understanding that traditional teaching provides. Speaking at the 2026 Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) Conference in London, Winkleman, a patron of the Close Screens Open Minds campaign, questioned why schools continue to expand screen-based learning despite concerns about its effects on children's cognitive development, attention spans and executive functioning.

A 2023 UNESCO Global Education Monitoring report cautioned that excessive use can distract learners and that devices cannot substitute for qualified teachers. Will Ellis of 'Reclaim Childhood' has similarly questioned the use of such features in educational products. Critics argue that reading should encourage imagination, patience and reflection, qualities that can be undermined when learning is constantly interrupted by digital prompts.

A call for parents to act

Winkleman urged parents to question the unchecked digitization of education and resist treating technology as an automatic sign of progress. Her central message is that children need knowledge, curiosity, human connection and the freedom to think for themselves. Technology may have a place in education, but campaigners argue that it should support learning rather than determine how children learn.