Opinion: While Washington Debates Screen Time, Many Students Lack Access Altogether

July 2, 2026 - 17:44

Earlier this year, U.S. senators convened to grill experts on how social media, smartphones and other technologies are affecting children's mental health and learning. That conversation has since helped fuel a wave of school district bans on cell phones and tighter restrictions on classroom tech. Lawmakers and parents alike are worried about addiction, distraction, and the erosion of attention spans.

But this debate assumes a luxury that millions of American students simply do not have. While affluent suburbs debate whether to lock phones in pouches, rural and low-income districts are still struggling to get a reliable internet connection and a working laptop into every child's hands. The so-called digital divide did not vanish when the pandemic emergency ended. If anything, it has become a quiet crisis, overshadowed by louder arguments about screen time.

Consider the student in eastern Kentucky who has to do homework on a smartphone because the family cannot afford broadband. Or the high schooler in a tribal community who must sit in a school parking lot after hours just to catch a weak Wi-Fi signal. For these students, the problem is not too much technology. It is too little.

The national conversation has shifted from access to overuse, but that shift is premature. Until every child can log on at home, the panic over screen time is a conversation for the privileged. We cannot solve the problems of the digital age if we ignore the students who are still locked out of it.