Sep 9, 2026 – 5.47pmSchools should dramatically scale back the amount of time kids spend on screens in class to break a cycle of disrupted attention and help arrest declines in education standards that mean students are, on average, about two years behind where they would have been at the turn of the century.Education experts and politicians from both sides said an overdose on digital devices was partly to blame for results from a major international test that showed Australian students’ scores in maths and reading had declined in every survey since 2009. That is the year smartphone adoption passed half the population.Subscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? Fetching latest articles