When Screens Replace Books
Alabama’s Literacy Crisis Demands a Course Correction—Guest Opinion by Emily Jones
Guest Opinion by Emily Jones
Removing cell phones from classrooms felt like progress — a collective sigh of relief from parents worn out by the digital tug-of-war. But as I’ve spoken with families across Alabama, one concern keeps coming up: even without personal devices, our children are still immersed in screens throughout the school day.
Chromebooks. Online worksheets. Digital reading programs. Screens haven’t disappeared — they’ve simply been rebranded.
Laptops have replaced notebooks. Tablets have taken the place of textbooks. Assignments now live behind digital portals, not in folders parents can flip through. And all of this is happening as Alabama’s reading scores continue to slide.
The truth is this: while cell phones are gone, screens still dominate our classrooms. And they are limiting the positive effects of Alabama’s laws.
According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) — widely known as The Nation’s Report Card — Alabama students are reading worse today than they were nearly a decade ago.
The U.S. Department of Education describes NAEP as the gold standard for measuring academic achievement across states and over time. Their reports offer a clear, consistent measure of how well students are mastering foundational skills. And it was startling to see the decline in Alabama’s scores:
Fourth Grade Reading
Eighth Grade Reading
A steady, nearly decade-long decline — even as the use of screens, devices, and digital curriculum has expanded across Alabama classrooms.
If technology were the answer, these numbers would be improving.
They’re not — and the data is too clear to ignore.
Falling reading scores are troubling enough, but screens also create barriers that undermine Alabama’s transparency laws.
In 2024, the Legislature passed the Parents’ Right to Know Act, requiring school curricula to be posted publicly online so families can clearly see what their children are learning. The State Superintendent’s directive was simple: instructional materials must be available on school websites — not buried in apps or hidden behind logins.
Yet that’s exactly what’s happening.
Instead of publicly posting instructional content, many schools are embedding it inside school-issued devices. That means the only way for parents to view lessons is by logging in through their child’s laptop or tablet.
This presents several problems:
- Many schools don’t allow students to bring devices home.
- Even when devices are sent home, parents often cannot log in to view content.
- And most importantly, this practice undermines the spirit — and arguably the letter — of the law.
This isn’t just a tech policy failure. It’s a transparency failure. Parents cannot support learning if they are blocked from seeing what is being taught.
Screens are also interfering with the goals of the Alabama Literacy Act.
When lawmakers passed the Act in 2019, the purpose was clear: ensure every child can read on grade level by the end of third grade. That mission requires real literacy instruction — phonics, vocabulary, handwriting, sustained reading, and practice.
Nothing in the Literacy Act calls for Chromebooks or digital programs. Its foundation is built on research-backed methods: explicit instruction, repetition, and human-led support.
Today, too many classrooms have replaced physical books with devices and writing practice with typing games. That’s not what the law envisioned — and it certainly isn’t what improves literacy.
Over the past year, I’ve read deeply on this topic. Books like The Tech Exit, Glow Kids, and Screen Schooled all point in the same direction: excessive screen use is harming children’s ability to focus, comprehend, and retain what they read.
Research consistently shows that screens encourage:
- Shallow reading and reduced comprehension
- Fragmented attention
- Lower memory retention
- Declines in writing, spelling, and critical thinking
Paper and print do the opposite. They slow the mind down. They deepen comprehension. They support the development of strong, fluent readers.
If Alabama wants literacy to rise, screens cannot continue to replace books.
One of the biggest myths sold to parents is that “tech in schools prepares kids for the future.”
But the people selling that idea don’t raise their own children that way.
Many Silicon Valley executives send their kids to low-tech or even tech-free schools because they understand what cognitive science confirms: early learning requires focus, not multitasking. It requires attention and paper, not apps.
We shouldn’t be afraid to say what parents already know in their gut: screens are not helping our kids become better readers.
Meanwhile, the EdTech industry is booming. Schools continue spending millions on devices, apps, and subscription platforms promising to “personalize learning.”
But if screens actually improved literacy, we would see the results by now.
Instead, we see:
- NAEP scores dropping
- Digital spending rising
- Children reading less deeply
Every dollar spent on a new EdTech contract is a dollar not spent on:
- High-quality books
- Reading specialists
- Proven instructional materials
- Teacher coaching and training
It is fair for parents to ask: Is this really about helping students — or helping corporate profits?
Fixing literacy doesn’t mean banning all technology. It means being wise, intentional, and guided by research and common sense.
Alabama should lead the nation by:
- Reducing screen use in early grades when developing brains need focus
- Returning physical books to classrooms and homes
- Ensuring transparency, with all curriculum posted on public websites as the law requires
- Using technology as a tool, not a replacement for teaching
Our children deserve more than apps and logins. They deserve strong teachers, real books, and the kind of learning that actually lasts.
If we want Alabama’s children to read — truly read — we must teach them the way strong readers are made: through practice, patience, and the printed page.
Emily Jones is a conservative activist and Chapter President of Moms for Liberty—Madison, Alabama.
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