Managers often strive to cultivate a culture within their companies that fosters concentration, critical thinking, analytical skills, and sound decision-making. However, these very skills, which we consider essential for a person’s professional future, may be weakening from childhood due to excessive screen time.

Clare Morell, in *  The Tech Exit: A Practical Guide to Freeing Kids and Teens from Smartphones* , warns that the problem isn’t limited to mobile phones. Laptops, tablets, Chromebooks, and other devices presented as educational tools can also interfere with learning. During the years when schools and governments implemented programs to provide a device to every student, math and reading scores in the United States did not improve. On the contrary, the downward trend had already begun before the pandemic.

Investment in technology alone does not guarantee a better education. Studies of the  One Laptop per Child program  in the USA found that greater access to computers and the internet did not increase years spent in the education system or subsequent participation in higher education. Similarly, Andreas Schleicher, OECD Director of Education, quoted by Morell, observed that some of the best-performing education systems, particularly in East Asia, have been cautious in introducing technology into classrooms. Students who use computers and tablets very frequently tend to perform worse than those who use them in moderation.

The problem isn’t just what content children are watching, but what digital media does to their ability to pay attention. Attention is a profoundly human capacity. It allows us to pause, understand, connect ideas, contemplate reality, and discover its meaning. Like any capacity, it needs to be nurtured, practiced, and cultivated.

Screens, however, accustom the mind to constant novelty. Maryanne Wolf, director of the UCLA Center for Dyslexia, Diverse Learners, and Social Justice, warns that their intensive use can prevent children from developing full literacy. Digital reading encourages rapid scanning, jumping between stimuli, and the search for immediate information. Deep reading, on the other hand, requires slowness, effort, memory, interpretation, and reflection.

The studies cited by Morell show that students who read printed text understand it better than those who read the same text on a screen. Research using magnetic resonance imaging has also found stronger reading neural circuits in children who spend more time reading printed books. Educational neuroscientists at Teachers College, Columbia University, further discovered that reading on paper allows for better connection between what is read and new concepts, leading to the construction of richer networks of meaning.

Something similar happens with writing. Handwriting helps children recognize letters better and aids in memorizing words. Prematurely replacing pencils and paper with keyboards and screens can weaken some of the basic processes by which children learn to read, write, remember, and think.

It is significant that some professionals at Silicon Valley tech companies send their children to schools that limit technology. Morell mentions the Waldorf School of the Peninsula, which is attended by the children of employees at companies like Google and Apple. This school prioritizes hands-on activities, direct experience, books, and manual work, while technology is incorporated in a restricted way during secondary education.

The case of Dr. Sandra Cremers is also illustrative. She and her husband initially advocated for more screen time in their children’s school. However, after treating numerous young patients with chronic dry eye associated with device use, she changed her stance and began to value the low-tech education her own children were receiving.

However, parents can’t ask their children to put their phones away during meals if they themselves have their phones on the table. Nor can they expect them to read, talk, play sports, or enjoy silence if, during their free time, the adults are constantly checking email, the news, social media, or work messages.

Family example is more educational than any rule. Reducing screen time shouldn’t be limited to study hours. It’s also necessary to rediscover ways to relax and refocus: reading a book, having uninterrupted conversations, walking, playing a sport, listening to music, working with your hands, or simply learning to be silent.

Protecting children’s attention doesn’t mean rejecting technology. It means using it wisely, prioritizing the holistic development of the individual. The first decision doesn’t fall to the school or the government. It begins at home, when parents demonstrate through their own behavior that reality, other people, and conversation deserve attention that no screen should interrupt.