I am a parent of two and I teach at a university. I read Dr Robert Harrison’s letter (14 April) with scepticism. He writes eloquently of students using technology in “healthy, purposeful, and life-enhancing” ways. This sounds lovely, but very far from the reality that we are living.
My five-year-old’s school has furnished parents with no fewer than five technology platforms where we interact with the school; this does not include the many parent WhatsApp groups. Every swimming lesson, scout troop and karate class requires a new online platform. My son obviously doesn’t use these platforms, but does see me swearing at my phone whenever I try to log on to one since I cannot possibly remember so many passwords.
My graduate students similarly interact with multiple educational platforms each time they have to do something simple like follow a reading list or find a journal article. When one of these platforms is changed or adapted (which happens often), our entire teaching staff, including administrators, spend months learning how to use the new system and asking for the students’ patience while we navigate them.
I am at the point where every time I open an educational technology platform, I can feel my brain melting. Schools cannot teach a “balanced, nuanced approach” to technology when teachers and parents are so overstimulated by screens. I suggest reverting to an earlier technology: the book.
Dr Susan MacDougall
Departmental lecturer in social anthropology, University of Oxford
