Teachers ranked online distractions as more problematic than students missing classes or not learning basic concepts in earlier grades, according to a new survey by the EdWeek Research Center.
That's not to say that absenteeism or a lack of foundational knowledge in STEM subjects aren't huge barriers to learning. But it's clear educators are struggling to keep students motivated and engaged with the constant distractions from cellphones, social media, and online games.
Many STEM educators told the EdWeek Research Center that it's simply too hard for them to compete with digital devices and media.
"Motivating students to do any kind of work is difficult. We are competing with social media, etc., and it seems that they would rather do that than work on any assignments," said a middle school math/computer science/data science teacher in New Mexico in the open-response section of the EdWeek Research Center survey.
"The worst thing that ever happened to kids was cellphones and social media," added a math/computer science/data science teacher in California. "Their attention spans are shot, and they lost a ton of motivation. They are interested in instantaneous answers and lack perseverance due to instant access to knowledge at their fingertips."
But while teachers often feel smartphones and social media are hurting K-12 education, students see those technologies as much more benign. Middle and high school students surveyed by the EdWeek Research Center were more likely to cite a lack of interest in subjects, worries about failing, and too few opportunities to get help as barriers — if they could think of any barrier to their learning in STEM at all.
The EdWeek Research Center asked middle and high school students and English language/arts teachers these same questions regarding motivation in ELA classes. Their responses were not substantially different from students and teachers in STEM. The nationally representative surveys were conducted in March and April and included 1,058 middle and high school students and 605 educators in K-12.
TEENS DON'T THINK THEIR CELLPHONE USE HURTS THEIR LEARNING
Students and teachers don't see eye to eye on how students' cellphone use affects how well they are learning in math, science, engineering, and technology-related classes. Sixty-three percent of teachers say that the amount of time students spend on their cellphones has a very negative impact on their learning, compared with just 2 percent of middle and high schoolers who agree.
Cellphones and the distractions they cause can be particularly challenging in STEM-related classes, where many students already struggle as they get older to stay motivated and where concepts become increasingly complex and build upon one another. One study by Common Sense Media found that students can get hundreds of notifications a day, many during school hours.
STEM teachers told the EdWeek Research Center that cellphones are eroding students' motivation and engagement in their classes.
"Students are literally addicted to their cellphones. This impacts all areas of learning," said a high school science teacher in Maryland in the survey.
"I have observed a gradual but massive change in students' abilities to focus and desires to learn due to distractions with mobile phones, both with social media and video games," said an Idaho-based high school science teacher.
Teachers have not always held these opinions. In the mid-2010s, many teachers saw cellphones as potentially valuable instructional tools. But their attitudes toward the devices have soured markedly since then.
Teachers in many states are already getting some relief. State lawmakers across the country from both the Democrat and Republican parties have been pushing for cellphone restrictions in schools over the past year. At least 22 states now require school districts to ban or restrict students' use of cellphones in schools, according to an Education Week tally.
A number of states have also created social media restrictions for kids, such as banning social media companies from sending push notifications to students during typical sleep hours.
MANY TEACHERS THINK TEENS GET TOO MUCH SCREEN TIME — EVEN ON SCHOOL DEVICES
Even when it comes to educational screen time on school-issued devices, many STEM and ELA teachers feel that students are getting too much of it, while students — you guessed it — are less bothered.
A little more than half of middle and high school teachers — who teach STEM and English/language arts — said they wished students spent less time learning on computers, compared with 12 percent of students who said the same.
"I think technology is great, and essential for learning things that exist out in the real world," said a high school math teacher in California. "But it's kind of bananas how much time students spend on iPads, computers, and their phones. I would say our students at our school have two hours a day offline or without a screen. Students are constantly distracted."
©2025 Education Week (Bethesda, Md.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
