The headlines are stark: In the U.S. and around the world, students’ scores on tests designed to measure academic performance have slid since 2012. Students aren’t learning as much as they used to. In a January 2026 U.S. Senate hearing, I testified with experts including Jared Cooney Horvath about the impact of technology use on student performance. Phones are distracting from learning, and so are school-issued laptops and tablets that can be used to watch YouTube and streaming services. Two solutions make sense. First, no phones during the school day bell to bell. Second, schools should stop giving tablets and laptops to elementary school students, and possibly middle school students. As school-issued laptops and tablets became more common, test scores went down, not up. Several research studies have shown that technology does not improve learning – more often, it harms it. At the very least, parents should have the option to opt their kids out of school-issued devices or to put parental controls on those devices, particularly if those devices come home with them.