Students Need Less Screen Time: What the Netherlands and Other Schools Are Changing

More devices. More apps. More digital platforms. More screen-based instruction. Advancing technologies over the past couple of decades have indelibly reformatted the learning landscape, along with virtually all other aspects of our daily lives. Have student outcomes lived up to expectations for these tools? Mixed results are prompting some shifts towards new strategies that optimize tech in education while also preserving key foundational learning principals. Evidence-based models now call for defined boundaries around right-sized technology for student learning models.

Why Students Need Less Screen Time

While there’s no longer any question that screens have valid uses in today’s educational toolbox, there is room for discussions detailing these uses. When do screens genuinely improve learning and when are they more of a distraction, causing fatigue and fragmented attention? Studies support the position that technology is effective in the classroom only when it clearly supports learning outcomes. As of March 2026, 114 education systems worldwide implemented a national ban on mobile phones in schools, up from 24% of countries in mid-2023.(UNESCO)

The data behind this shift is compelling. In a 2024 OECD analysis, 30% of students across OECD countries said students in their classes were distracted by digital devices in every or most mathematics lessons. In a related OECD report, 59% of students said their attention was diverted in at least some math lessons because other students were using phones, tablets, or laptops. Students who reported being distracted by peers’ device use also scored significantly lower in math. At the same time, OECD studies also found that moderate use of digital devices for learning at school was associated with better outcomes vs no use at all, while leisure screen time at school beyond an hour a day was linked to lower math scores and a weaker sense of belonging.

Students Need Less Screen Time, Not Zero Screen Time

Notably, these reports do not conclude that all screens are bad or that schools should revert to a pre-digital standard. Students absolutely need digital literacy. The ability to research, create, communicate, and work responsibly online is essential. But there is a major difference between intentional educational technology and constant digital exposure. One supports learning. The other competes with it.

Attention is a key ingredient in learning, and constant connectivity has reshaped the attention model for generations of students. Reducing screen time in schools does not mean rejecting innovation. It means recognizing that digital learning tools have a valuable place in modern education. These tech tools, however, do not fully replace fundamentals of reading, writing and computation. These core skill sets form building blocks for the type of critical thinking and visualization abilities required in higher learning and career paths.

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Schools Around the World Agree: Students Need Less Screen Time

• The Netherlands announced that mobile phones, tablets, and smartwatches would be largely banned from classrooms beginning January 1, 2024, specifically to reduce distractions during class time A subsequent government commissioned study in 2025 found that three-quarters of surveyed high schools said the policy improved student concentration, with nearly two-thirds reporting a better social climate, and about one-third indicated better academic performance. (Reuters). This study reflects a long-held belief amongst both teachers and parents that students learn better when their attention is not constantly being pulled away.
• Sweden also moved in a direction supporting more book reading time and less screen time, with the government investing heavily in physical textbooks and emphasizing a standard of one textbook per pupil per subject. Further strengthening this swing back toward foundational learning tools that promote sustained focus, Sweden adopted legal reforms around access to textbooks in 2024. (IndianDefenceReview)
• England’s current government guidance says schools should be mobile phone-free by default and encourages policies that prohibit mobile phone use throughout the school day, including during breaks and lunch. The guidance frames the issue not only as one of distraction, but also school culture, safety, and bullying prevention. (BBC.com)
• Hungary restricted the use of mobile phones and similar internet-enabled devices in schools beginning with the 2024-2025 school year, allowing exceptions only when teachers or school leaders expressly permit them for specific activities. (Eurydice)

Students and Screens in Balance

These global examples demonstrate how education systems are no longer treating unlimited student screen access as simply modern or progressive or inevitable. They’re rethinking parameters in response to a proven need for thoughtful limits that enhance learning without eclipsing other vital inputs. This is a responsible reasonable approach in the post-digital transition that incorporates both our physical world and the ubiquitous screens that create a virtual reality.

Social lives, entertainment, messaging, videos, and notifications all compete for students’ time and attention long after school ends. Today’s environment is saturated with screens. Rather than mindlessly amplifying that environment, schools can provide balance. They can offer a guided environment where students practice focus, sustained reading, face-to-face interaction, and the ability to sit with a difficult problem without instantly reaching for digital stimulation.

Parents may continue some structure after the bell rings by making space for device-free reading, conversation, sleep, outdoor time, and real boredom — the kind that can encourage imagination and creativity rather than scrolling. Life mediated by a screen at every turn or one with space to think, talk, read, and learn without constant interruption. Providing students with guidelines that balance both safeguards their development and future success.