An hour spent making an animation, an hour researching a history project and an hour scrolling through social media might all appear under the same heading: screen time. Yet the activities, demands and experiences can be very different.
That distinction deserves more attention in conversations about children and technology. Time matters, particularly when devices interrupt sleep or crowd out other activities. But the number of minutes cannot tell us everything about the value of what happens on a screen.
In a Cambridge Schools Conference webinar on digital wellbeing, Suzi Haigh put it clearly:
“So, when we talk about screen use, we need to look beyond the total number of hours.”
She then asked:
“It’s not just about how much time somebody’s spending on a screen, it’s what are the students doing? How does it leave them feeling?”
Those questions give schools and families a useful starting point.
Making something worth thinking about
During the webinar, participants identified projects, presentations, creative work, research and revision as examples of positive technology use.
Consider a student making a short animation to explain the water cycle. They need to decide what happens, put events in order and explain the process clearly. A student recording a podcast must consider what to say, how to structure it and whether a listener will understand.
These are examples of how a digital task can create opportunities for thinking. The value comes from the decisions students make and the understanding they develop.
Simply producing something attractive is not enough. A polished presentation may contain copied text that the student cannot explain. An impressive AI-generated video may reveal little about what its creator understands.
A useful question is: What thinking did the student have to do?
Ask them to explain their choices, describe what they changed or discuss a mistake they corrected. This helps move the conversation beyond the appearance of the finished product.
Research means more than finding an answer
Technology can give students access to documents, images, data and perspectives that would otherwise be difficult to bring into a classroom.
For example, students investigating a local environmental issue could compare rainfall records, read different accounts and examine photographs. The task can then move beyond locating information to judging what it means.
However, searching is only part of research. Copying the first result into a document offers a very different learning experience from comparing sources and explaining why one is more trustworthy.
The same applies to AI-generated answers. A confident response still needs checking.
Teachers can make the thinking visible by asking:
- Who produced this information?
- What evidence supports it?
- Can another reliable source confirm it?
- How does it help answer our question?
The device provides access. The task and the teaching determine what students do with it.
Revision should reveal understanding
Digital revision can give students opportunities to practise, check answers and return to areas they find difficult. The Education Endowment Foundation’s guidance identifies improving the quality and quantity of pupil practice, alongside assessment, as potential uses of technology to support learning.
But opening a revision app does not show that useful revision is taking place.
Imagine two students using the same platform. One guesses repeatedly until the correct answer appears. The other attempts the question, considers the feedback and explains the correction. Their screen-time totals might be identical, while their approach to learning differs considerably.
A useful follow-up is to ask students to explain an answer without the app, attempt a related question on paper or identify what they still need help with.
The important outcome is what they can understand and do afterwards.
Purposeful use still needs boundaries
Recognising valuable uses of technology does not remove the need for balance.
Suzi Haigh raised another important question:
“Is it interrupting their sleep, or taking away time from face-to-face friendships, play, and being outside?”
Even an absorbing creative project can continue too late into the evening. Research can drift into unrelated browsing. A revision session can be interrupted by messages.
The webinar also highlighted concerns about constant connectivity, late-night use and algorithm-driven social comparison. The speakers acknowledged that the research is complex and that associations should not be presented as simple proof of causation.
Schools and families can take these concerns seriously while recognising the value of purposeful digital work. A child can benefit from making a film and still need a clear stopping point.
A better conversation at home and school
“How long have you been on that?” is an understandable question. It becomes more useful when followed by questions about the experience itself.
What are you making or learning? What decisions have you made? How do you feel afterwards? What else needs time today?
These questions invite children to explain their activity and reflect on their habits. They also give adults a clearer picture of whether technology is supporting a worthwhile purpose.
For schools, the same thinking applies when planning lessons. Start with what students need to learn, then consider whether a digital tool will help. Sometimes it will offer a useful way to create, investigate or practise. Sometimes discussion, paper or practical materials will serve the task well.
A screen-time total cannot show the quality of a student’s thinking, the value of a conversation or the understanding gained from correcting a mistake.
Count the minutes, but ask what happened in them.
Sources
- Cambridge Schools Conference online webinar on digital wellbeing, presented by Suzi Haigh and Laura Kahwati. Quotations taken from the supplied transcript, with punctuation lightly tidied. The classroom examples in this article are illustrative extensions. Replay here>>
- Education Endowment Foundation (2019). Using Digital Technology to Improve Learning.
