Education technology is a $165bn global industry. In 2024 American schools spent $30bn on it. Some 90% of high-school students and 84% of primary-school pupils have school-issued devices; four-fifths of kindergarteners are given them.
Independent research has consistently found that technology rarely boosts learning in schools—and often impairs it. A 2024 meta-analysis of 119 studies of early-literacy tech interventions, led by Rebecca Silverman of Stanford University, found the programmes delivered at best marginal gains on standardised tests. The majority had little effect, no effect or harmful ones. Jared Horvath, a neuroscientist and author of "The Digital Delusion", has reviewed meta-analyses covering tens of thousands of studies and concluded that "in nearly every context, ed tech doesn't come close to the minimum threshold for meaningful learning impact."
Long-term trends raise the possibility that the rise of in-class devices is partly responsible for a decline in student performance. Scores on 21 nationwide benchmark tests rose from 1994 until peaking in 2012-15, when screen use started to soar, and then began to sink. In major assessments for maths, science and reading from 2011 to 2019, greater in-school computer use for learning correlates with lower scores; students in classes with rare or no computer use typically score highest.
Distraction is one likely culprit. Another is that some tools emphasise gamification at the expense of education. Evidence does show that apps can support learning through drills in two narrow areas: certain learning disabilities and adaptive tutoring in domains with clear right and wrong answers, such as spelling and arithmetic. But students who improve through repetition "within the game" struggle to transfer that knowledge to other contexts such as standardised tests.
The prevalence of technology in schools owes less to rigorous evidence than aggressive marketing. Teachers are flooded with daily offers for free tech. Technology saves money on textbooks and streamlines lesson planning, but licensing and training costs add up, and many teachers feel burdened by the administration and dashboards.
In 2013 Bill Gates remarked that it would take a decade to know whether education technology really worked. More than ten years and hundreds of billions of dollars later, the answer is increasingly clear.
The price of success in philosophy is triviality.