The older students are, the more time they spend on digital devices in school.
In fact, during the average 6-hour U.S. school day, middle-school and high-school students spend at least three hours on devices. Take away gym and lunch and you have a kid on a device.
A New York Times survey, published in October 2025, shows that 8 in 10 American teachers say that students have devices assigned to them. That is up from around a third of teachers who said the same in 2019.
The survey found that elementary school students used devices the least. About 68 percent spend less than or equal to one hour on devices at school. By middle school, about 40 percent of students spend more than three hours on their devices.
This matters because experts suspect that students frequently copy-paste information from Websites and AI tools, resulting in shallow learning, reduced retention, and a decline in critical thinking.
On the other hand, a meta analysis by researchgate.net found an overall average positive effect on educational results from mobile devices.
According to Commonsense.org, the key may be to balance traditional methods with technology.
Rick Good spent ten years in the newspaper business, including with The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) and The Greenville News (Greenville, SC). He co-wrote, with Melinda Coleman, Rutledge to Riley: Governors of South Carolina, 1776–Present (Published by The Greenville News), and is the author of Mind Games Trivia #1 (Amazon). He has recently spent 15 years creating original trivia content through Sounds Good Mobile Entertainment and continues that with his new company, SGME Software. He edits The Smart Reader’s money, real estate, and business coverage.