Though not a mandate, the proposal comes as districts and states are publicly reconsidering screen use and artificial intelligence in K-12 classrooms.
Just a few years ago, with COVID-era Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds intending to put devices in the hands of every student, a proposal to ban screens in early elementary classrooms may have seemed unlikely. But after years of accelerated device adoption, schools are now contending with growing concerns around student mental health, attention spans, AI governance and the instructional impact of screen-heavy learning environments.
Central to Randi Weingarten’s speech, which she delivered May 27 on behalf of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., was the belief that young children benefit more from hands-on learning and face-to-face instruction than screen-based activities.
Contemporary research corroborates Weingarten’s claim. According to a 2022 study published by the National Institutes of Health, “screen use in early childhood is associated with increased vulnerability in developmental readiness for school, with increased risk for poorer language and cognitive development in kindergarten, especially among high users.”
Alongside the call for screen restrictions, the AFT also released a 10-point action plan outlining guardrails for AI use in early grades. Notably, the recommendations are not explicitly anti-tech across the board; rather than eliminating digital tools entirely, the points address developmental appropriateness and limits on passive or excessive tech use, especially in early grades.
“When I started teaching in the ’90s, education technology was just being introduced. ... In the 2010s, many schools began providing laptops to students; in this decade, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the tech takeover,” Weingarten said in her speech. “Today, many school systems provide every student — some as young as 5 — with a device. More than half of 11-year-olds have a smartphone ever ready at their fingertips, soaring to 95 percent of 13- to 17-year-olds. Four in 10 teens say they are online 'almost constantly.' The pace of this tech revolution has been blisteringly fast, and kids are getting burned."
In the action plan, the AFT called for stronger guardrails around AI and classroom technology, emphasizing that digital tools should support and not replace teachers and hands-on learning experiences. The proposal also stressed increased student data protections and educator input in AI policy decisions.
The recommendation to curb screen time for grades K-2 also aligns with actions already underway in several states and districts. At least 16 states introduced legislation in 2026 aimed at re-evaluating screen time policies or increasing oversight of educational technology tools, according to the background materials.
Alabama recently imposed screen-time limits for kindergarten classrooms, while Los Angeles Unified School District and Pennsylvania’s Canon-McMillan School District have both identified second grade as a threshold for stricter device limitations. In Maryland, concerns about screen exposure date back years: in 2016, one district required students in kindergarten through second grade to leave computers at school while weighing whether older elementary students should be able to bring devices home.
Moreover, districts are increasingly being asked to distinguish between technology that meaningfully supports instruction and technology that may contribute to passive learning or distraction, particularly for younger students.
“Take the bans on phones during the school day, which we support and which 31 states have implemented. What are educators seeing? That kids are noticeably more engaged, and hallways and lunchrooms bustle with chatter and laughter again now that students aren’t heads-down, eyes on their phones,” Weingarten said in her speech, adding that “one year into its bell-to-bell cellphone ban, Dallas schools are seeing a 24 percent increase in library book checkouts. Imagine if kids started reading whole books again.”
The AFT did not respond to requests for comment on this story.
