[Baltimore Sun] Technology poses serious threats to child literacy in Maryland | GUEST COMMENTARY
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As policymakers, parents and community members, we are all grappling with the impact of technology on our children. It’s everywhere — on their phones, in classrooms and woven into almost every aspect of their daily lives. Earlier this year, I was proud to sponsor the Maryland Age-Appropriate Design Code, a groundbreaking law that passed unanimously, holding technology companies accountable for the harmful designs of their platforms. These platforms are often full of addictive features and loopholes that use children’s data to push advertising and expose them to dangerous situations.
But today, I want to talk about a different, critical issue that’s not getting enough attention: the impact of digital devices on our children’s reading skills. Here in Maryland, policymakers have committed to ending the literacy crisis, with the development of a comprehensive plan that is grounded in the science of reading. However, there’s one roadblock we haven’t talked enough about — the impact technology is having on the brains of our students.
Last week, I participated in a meeting organized by Maryland READS and the Albert Shanker Institute to hear from Maryanne Wolf, one of the world’s leading experts on literacy and the brain. Wolf spoke to Maryland’s education leaders and technology experts about the pervasive use of technology and how it is impacting the brain’s ability to engage in deep reading, which is the ultimate goal of our literacy programs.
Deep reading isn’t just about decoding words on a page; it’s about reflecting on those words, making connections and transforming that information into original thought and insight. It’s about slowing down and engaging deeply with the text in a way that helps students build empathy, critical thinking and creativity. But the habits our students develop while reading on screens — endless scrolling, short bursts of content, notifications interrupting their focus — are harming their brain’s capacity for deep reading. When most of their reading occurs this way, their ability to engage in slower, more reflective reading diminishes. In some cases, it may even be lost entirely.
Maryland’s reading crisis isn’t just about whether students can decode words or read fluently. It’s about whether they can engage in the kind of deep, meaningful reading that builds the critical thinking skills they need for success in school and life. As our state continues to roll out its comprehensive plan to end the reading crisis, we must also ask ourselves: What good is investing time and resources into the science of reading if inappropriate features and over-reliance on technology unravel all those gains? If we truly want to fix our reading crisis, we must teach our children to slow down and read.
Technology isn’t going anywhere, and we all know there are benefits to its use. It offers access to information, tools for learning and opportunities for connection. But it’s also our responsibility to act on the growing body of research that shows the harms of unchecked digital consumption, particularly when it comes to our children’s ability to read and think critically. This is especially important as we refine our literacy policies in the days ahead.
While there are many arguments for and against restricting cell phones in classrooms, one thing is clear: The scrolling habits and constant notifications that come with digital devices are negatively impacting our children’s ability to slow down and think deeply. If we don’t address this issue, it’s going to be difficult — if not impossible — to solve the reading crisis in our state.
As a community, we must be willing to have tough conversations and take meaningful steps to regulate the use of technology devices in our schools, including steps to address the threat that digital devices can pose to the learning and literacy development of our kids. We have the science, we have the research, and now we must act comprehensively to ensure our technology policies are in service of our educational goals.
Jared Solomon (jared.solomon@house.state.md.us) is a former Baltimore City high school teacher who represents the 18th District in the Maryland House of Delegates.
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