Open Letter to Maryland State Department of Education Superintendent Karen Salmon: Don't Abandon Digital Best Practices

 September 10, 2020

 

 

Dear Secretary Salmon,

 

Last year, Maryland’s public schools received the Health and Safety Best Practices Guidelines for Digital Devices that you signed and made mandatory reading for the state’s 25 school districts’ and 57,000 full-time teachers.

 

I advocated hard for the bill that led to these guidelines, HB1110, and our Board of Education favored the bill.

 

These Best Practices state:

 

· Consider age and developmental level of students and recognize the importance of time limits. It is recommended that the use of digital devices with younger students be limited.

· Limit time on devices  – 10 to 20 minutes is recommended. Remind students to take eye and stretch breaks. (A separate document on this topic promotes the 20/20/20 rule regarding frequent eye breaks.)

 

Yet last Tuesday, MSDE called for at least 3.5 hours per day of live virtual instruction across all grade levels, imposing potential health threats to Maryland’s children.

 

The American Academy of Pediatrics, which is cited in the above MSDE document, states four very serious conditions advanced by screen time.

 

1.     Obesity. The odds of being overweight were almost 5 times greater for adolescents who watch more than 5 hours of TV per day compared with those who watch 0 to 2 hours.¹ This study’s findings contributed to recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatrics that children have 2 hours or less of sedentary screen time daily.

 

2.     Sleep Disturbances. Media use can negatively affect sleep.²  Exposure to light (particularly blue light) and activity from screens before bed affects melatonin levels and can delay or disrupt sleep.³ Media use around or after bedtime can disrupt sleep and negatively affect school performance.⁴

 

3.     Addiction. Children who overuse online media are at risk of problematic Internet use,⁵ and heavy users of video games are at risk of Internet gaming disorder.⁶

 

4.     Academic decline. A growing body of evidence suggests that the use of media while engaged in academic tasks has negative consequences on learning.^7,8

 

Other districts around the country are solving for remote learning with outdoor classrooms, independent study projects and other innovative enrichment opportunities. In Montgomery County, leaders give students Wednesday offline every week to allow them to explore and learn organically and independently.

 

I ask that MSDE give local districts the autonomy to create virtual learning plans that respond to local stakeholder input — primarily, our teachers. Passing down statewide mandates and thresholds will inhibit creative solutions, create physical and mental health consequences,⁹ and yield proven unremarkable academic results.¹⁰

Lisa Cline

 

MCPS Parent and Safe Technology Advocate

WBAL: FBI warns of cyber predators accessing children through virtual learning

 MILFORD MILL, Md. —

The Baltimore office of the FBI warns that complaints about cybercrimes against children are up more than 250% in the city alone, and nationwide, they said the numbers are staggering.

"To highlight the amount of complaints that are coming in, we are literally drowning in them," said Matt Vilcek, supervisory special agent for the Violent Crimes Against Children and Human Trafficking Unit...

https://www.wbaltv.com/article/cyber-predators-virtual-learning-at-home-learning-online-learning/33915367

Kids used to love screen time. Then schools made Zoom mandatory all day long.

SAN FRANCISCO — At 8:30 a.m. every weekday, Sadie Barnett’s 9-year-old daughter opens her laptop and logs on to Zoom to start the school day. For the next 6½ hours, she’s not allowed to turn off the computer’s camera except for a midday lunch break. Along with the 94 other children on the call, she isn’t allowed to eat or drink on camera, wear pajamas or lounge or lie down.

In her first full week of fourth grade, she has already cried twice because her head hurt from squinting at the screen.

“It’s painful to watch,” said Barnett, who lives in Pennsylvania.

Headaches, anxiety and exhaustion caused by never-ending video meetings are no longer exclusively for adults trying to work from home during the pandemic. Some schools have started the fall semester with remote-learning setups that mimic what a full day of school was like before the coronavirus crisis...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/09/04/screentime-school-distance/

Screens and Kids: Making your home workstation safer for you and your kids

Screens and Kids: Making your home workstation safer for you and you...: Making your home workstation safer for you and your child Some basic measures could help protect your family from avoidable aches, strain...

MD's Ed dept. is drafting the nation's 1st classroom screen safety policy. Who did the assistant superintendent allow to participate? Not state CIOs. Not parents or health advocates. Just one ed tech group: CoSN. @GovLarryHogan #mdpolitics @60Minutes @natashanyt @leoniehaimson

MD's Ed dept. is drafting the nation's 1st classroom screen safety policy. Who did the assistant superintendent allow to participate? Not state CIOs. Not parents or health advocates. Just one ed tech group: CoSN. @GovLarryHogan #mdpolitics @60Minutes @natashanyt @leoniehaimson pic.twitter.com/grCpgEopzx

— Screens and Kids (@Screensandkids) May 22, 2019

Link to CoSN website.  
https://www.cosn.org/

Stop giving your kid your smartphone. World Health Organization releases first-ever screen time guidelines

The World Health Organization has issued its first-ever guidance for how much screen time children under 5 should get: not very much, and none at all for those under 1.

The U.N. health agency said Wednesday that kids under 5 should not spend more than one hour watching screens every day — and that less is better...

https://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/health/ct-hlth-baby-kid-screen-time-recommendations-20190424-story.html

WTOP: When the phone is down, grades go up

WASHINGTON — Ever since smartphones became so ubiquitous in everyday life, the tempting distractions have complicated teachers’ work.
The result: Some high schools and middle schools have changed their policies when it comes to student phones, fueling a debate about whether access to such devices should be controlled in the classroom.
As one might expect, recent studies show that a phone-free environment can benefit performance, said Ann Dolin, president of Educational Connections tutoring. One study from the London School of Economics, she said, found that in schools with a cellphone ban, students earned overall higher exam scores...

https://wtop.com/education/2019/01/when-the-phone-is-down-grades-go-up/?fbclid=IwAR1vGQjeB96UnHqr1gVEFaAdfg0qmjX3-fPNWZBEmKc2DRmhBP316r6PlaA

Reactive vs. Proactive Parenting in the Digital World with Safe Tech Committee Member Lisa Cline

MentalHealthForum_2018 by on Scribd

"Emerging evidence suggests that mobile device and social media uses have an unfavorable relationship with attention, memory, impulse control, and academic performance"

Cut back on screen time in 2019

Children between the ages of 8 and 11 who spend more than two hours a day looking at screens were associated with lower cognitive function than those who engaged in less screen time, according to researchers who published a study in The Lancet in September.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/27/opinions/cut-back-on-screen-time-in-2019-alaimo/index.html

Groundbreaking study examines effects of screen time on kids

If you have kids and wonder if all that time they spend on their smartphones endlessly scrolling, snapping and texting is affecting their brains, you might want to put down your own phone and pay attention. The federal government, through the National Institutes of Health, has launched the most ambitious study of adolescent brain development ever attempted. In part, scientists are trying to understand what no one currently does: how all that screen time impacts the physical structure of your kids' brains, as well as their emotional development and mental health.

At 21 sites across the country scientists have begun interviewing nine and ten-year-olds and scanning their brains. They'll follow more than 11,000 kids for a decade, and spend $300 million doing it. Dr. Gaya Dowling of the National Institutes of Health gave us a glimpse of what they've learned so far...

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/groundbreaking-study-examines-effects-of-screen-time-on-kids-60-minutes/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab7d&linkId=60785051

Arlington, VA Petition: Low-Screen Instruction Option for Elementary & Middle School Students

Dear APS Superintendent & School Board Members

Ensure the Basics for our Youngest Learners

As a family with APS students ages 5-14, or parent/s whose child/ren have been impacted by the 1:1 program, we ask that APS offer parents a choice to place their children on a 'Low-Screen Instructional Track' for all core subjects. This Low Screen Track can be implemented come January of 2019...a good resolution for the new year!  

Our children's education has been shortchanged. It is ironic that APS advocates what it calls “personalized learning,” with iPads as a primary tool to deliver this so-called “vision,” which is anything but "personal" and in reality is not teaching kids basic communication skills or providing holistic measures of success. APS must instead deliver a new focus on handwriting (cursive), language arts, meaningful testing (not the majority being multiple choice) and the promise of developmentally appropriate digital learning (keyboarding with actual keyboards).

An example of where this type of learning tool has fallen short: APS delivered iPads four years ago with no keyboards, and no accompanying typing or digital learning curriculum. 5th graders are expected to type essays on iPads leaving children and teachers frustrated. APS and elementary school enrichment programs are SELLING typing classes on Saturdays through the Career Center and after school programs. Teachers are asking parents to provide keyboards, or PTA's buy them. This all adds up to a program that launched without a true plan of implementation, or a vision to compensate for basic skills that may have been lost with the transition, not to mention the added expense, time and resources that are required to support this high tech environment.

Where has all the writing gone?

APS promises mastery of cursive handwriting in third grade in the Program of Studies and has not delivered consistently, leaving many children all the way through high school not able to write or even read cursive. Cursive or printing has been shown to help students retain information (note taking), improve reading fluency and improve fine motor skills. Parents need to ensure our kids have the needed skills to live in a non-multiple choice world.

How much have we lost as we try to leap ahead?

What skills are lost by replacing authentic experiences with screens? Most kids are coming into APS with substantial "screen" experience and need not be taught how to use them. Teachers are seeing the lack of "soft skills" required to be successful including: resolving peer conflicts, attending to a non-multimedia lesson, sustaining tasks and good motor skills. PT professionals report floppy muscle tone, weak core strength, lack of wrist strength needed to write, underdeveloped sensory integration and vision issues. 

Research and legislation are addressing devices being correlated with serious health problems and developmental and cognitive delays. Myopia, sleeplessness, anxiety, internet addiction, and attention issues are a few of the associated risks that we need to be concerned about.

As a parent of a student age(s) 5-14 or parent of an upcoming APS student, we want Low-Screen Instruction for our elementary and middle school learners while encouraging a love of learning and curiosity. This track would include less multiple choice testing, daily reinforcement of handwriting and writing throughout their subjects, and meaningful developmentally appropriate digital learning. 

In the name of "personalized learning" we ask you let parents choose the communication and test taking path our Elementary and Middle School students will take. APS has experimented long enough on the youngest learners the past few years chasing a vision of "personalized learning" through an increased reliance on technological solutions - transparency and accountability must be provided to the community as we have been asking (https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/1-1InitiativeCommunityMeetingFeedback-1.pdf for years with little/no response  - help us ensure a solid foundation of the basics for our youngest learners.

 Thank you

https://www.change.org/p/school-board-apsva-us-low-screen-instruction-for-elementary-middle-school-students?recruiter=44761925&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=share_petition&fbclid=IwAR1Q7EQtnMgDoWYCnthRxQqUJDFv0AD3O50wJ_YUJ_EgMv40tNbS8jrP_rk

Rich Parents Ban Devices as the Poor Grow Reliant

In The New York Times, reporter Nellie Bowles. Full story here.

The Digital Gap Between Rich and Poor Kids Is Not What We Expected

America’s public schools are still promoting devices with screens — even offering digital-only preschools. The rich are banning screens from class altogether.

“These companies lied to the schools, and they’re lying to the parents,” said Natasha Burgert, a pediatrician in Kansas City. “We’re all getting duped.”

 

 

The parents in Overland Park, Kan., were fed up. They wanted their children off screens, but they needed strength in numbers. First, because no one wants their kid to be the lone weird one without a phone. And second, because taking the phone away from a middle schooler is actually very, very tough.

“We start the meetings by saying, ‘This is hard, we’re in a new frontier, but who is going to help us?’” said Krista Boan, who is leading a Kansas City-based program called START, which stands for Stand Together And Rethink Technology. “We can’t call our moms about this one.”

For the last six months, at night in school libraries across Overland Park, a suburb of Kansas City, Mo., about 150 parents have been meeting to talk about one thing: how to get their children off screens.

Campaign for Commercial Free Childhood Annual Report

It’s an exciting time for those of us who believe that corporate profits should never come at the expense of children’s wellbeing. Teachers are pushing back against intrusive educational technologies that profit off student data. Pundits and politicians are finally asking tough questions about Big Tech. Parents are helping one another navigate the challenges of (not) giving smartphones to pre-teens. And Silicon Valley executives are questioning whether the technologies they’ve unleashed are really good for children. You’ve helped make kids and commercialism a mainstream issue, and in this new climate, we’re more effective than ever.
In just the past twelve months, CCFC has:
• Exposed how one of the world’s most powerful companies illegally collects children’s sensitive data (p. 3).
• Launched a cross-disciplinary network of professionals who believe that reducing kids’ screen time is both necessary and possible (p. 6).
• Stopped a major toymaker from interfering in family relationships and spying on children (p. 1).
• Organized experts, advocates, and parents to say “no!” to the first major social network for young kids (p. 2).
• Convened the first-ever national conference dedicated to helping children and families unplug from ad-supported screens (p. 7).

We’re challenging the myths that corporations make good caregivers and teachers, that saturating kids in commercialism is an inevitable facet of modern life, and that face-to-face peer and family relationships are a vestige of days past. We’re excited about the impact we’re having in Washington and in state houses (p. 4), and we’re proud of the real changes CCFC members are making in their classrooms (p. 7), communities (pp 8-9), and homes (p. 10). We owe all of our success to you, our passionate and committed supporters. As you reflect on all we’ve achieved together this year, we hope you’ll consider sharing our work with the people and organizations in your community who are dedicated to supporting kids’ wellbeing. As you’ll see in these pages, it takes collaboration, creativity, and strength in numbers to ensure that every child gets the commercial-free time and space they deserve...

http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/sites/default/files/devel-generate/rof/CCFC%20FY18%20Annual%20Report%20Final.pdf

Would your kids respond in the same way as these kids? Raises an interesting point...

The Dangers of Distracted Parenting

...Yet for all the talk about children’s screen time, surprisingly little attention is paid to screen use by parents themselves, who now suffer from what the technology expert Linda Stone more than 20 years ago called “continuous partial attention.” This condition is harming not just us, as Stone has argued; it is harming our children. The new parental-interaction style can interrupt an ancient emotional cueing system, whose hallmark is responsive communication, the basis of most human learning. We’re in uncharted territory...

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/07/the-dangers-of-distracted-parenting/561752/

NYT: Maryland Schools May Tell Children When It's Time to Log Off

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/18/technology/maryland-computers-schools.html

UPDATE 3/22: The Montgomery County Board of Education has reconsidered its position on HB1110 and has voted unanimously tonight in support of the classroom screen safety bill.

Update: Thanks to the House W&M Committee for favorably reviewing classroom screen safety bill HB1110. MoCo BOE reconsiders position - now unanimously supports as well. Will be heard on the floor of the House tomorrow. #mdpolitics @mdhousedems https://t.co/H0v66XYd1s pic.twitter.com/ivVNh8TCNv

— Screens and Kids (@Screensandkids) March 26, 2018

National Organization Lobbies MoCo Delegates Ann Kaiser and Eric Luedtke House Bill 1110

https://ccfc.salsalabs.org/marylandschools/index.html

Dear Chairwoman Kaiser and Delegate Luedtke,

I am a Maryland resident, and I urge you to vote in favor of HB1110, "Public Schools – Health and Safety Guidelines and Procedures – Digital Devices." 

I am very concerned about the health risks children face as a result of required digital device use in their public school curriculum. Research tells us it isn't healthy for kids to be glued to screens all day, even for educational purposes. Excessive screen time is linked to attention and hyperactivity disorders, social-emotional problems, sleep disturbances, and irregular sleep patterns.

When we send our kids to school, we should be confident that they will be protected in their classrooms, not put at risk. This bill will allow parents, educators, and health professionals to develop guidelines for device use that will protect children’s health.

Please pass HB1110.

Click Below for Petition: 

https://ccfc.salsalabs.org/marylandschools/index.html

Landmark legislation will establish safety guidelines for classroom computers

Press Release

February 22, 2018
(ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND)

HB1110:  "Public Schools - Health and Safety Guidelines and Procedures - Digital Devices" directs the Maryland State Department of Education, consulting with the Maryland Department of Health to convene a group of medical experts and stakeholders to develop health and safety guidelines for the schools' technology equipment.

Sponsored by Delegate Steven Arentz (R-District 36, Eastern Shore) and 32 co-sponsors - representing statewide bipartisan support - the legislation is in response to the mounting scientific data that underscores the need to protect children from visual, physical and mental health risks posed by the unsafe use of classroom devices.

Delegate Arentz reports, "The research just continues to mount - our kids need to be protected, while they learn how to compete in the world today."

The University of Southern California's Roski Eye Institute has identified the use of screens as a factor contributing to the epidemic myopia now seen among children in the United States. Says lead researcher, Dr. Rohit Varma, "the use of mobile devices and screens on a daily basis, combined with a lack of proper lighting or sunlight, may be the real culprit behind these dramatic increases." Extreme myopia can lead to serious complications later in life, including glaucoma, cataracts, retinal detachment and macular degeneration -- all potentially blinding conditions.

Clinicians are also concerned about dry eye disease, since children do not blink often enough when using screens, in addition to "eye discomfort, fatigue, blurred vision and headaches." Making matters worse, the research shows that because children don't realize anything's wrong, they don't report or mitigate their own discomfort.

Researchers are also concerned about the effects of sleeplessness caused by the use of digital devices, including computers used for homework at night.  The HEV blue light emitted from digital devices suppresses an important hormone called melatonin, which tells the brain it's time to rest.

Without melatonin, kids can't sleep, and, according to the National Sleep Foundation, become agitated and anxious. Their research reports that "adults usually become sluggish when tired while children tend to overcompensate and speed up. For this reason, sleep deprivation is sometimes confused with ADHD in children."

The World Health Organization reports that obesity, diabetes and heart disease in children are also being associated with the increased sedentary behaviors that coincide with unsafe digital device use, noting "the increasingly urbanized and digitalized world offers fewer opportunities for physical activity through healthy play."

Addiction to technology, anxiety and suicide are also grave concerns for clinicians, and the focus of numerous studies. According to the Centers for Disease Control, suicide is the number 2 cause of death among teenagers today. And while much of those studies concentrate on personal use of computers, schools are increasingly using digital devices as their primary platform for communication, even within the classroom.

As a result of the increasing research, the American Academy of Pediatrics' Maryland Chapter and the Mental Health Association of Maryland as well as the Maryland State Medical Society, (MedChi) representing all of the state's physicians, have all endorsed the legislation, hoping that the General Assembly will heed the medical warnings.

National child advocacy groups are also endorsing HB1110, including Parents Across America and Campaign for a Commercial-free Childhood (CCFC), which has more than 800 members in Maryland.

"Maryland lawmakers are leading the nation by protecting children from overuse of digital devices in the classroom. We applaud this initiative and wholeheartedly support this bill," said Josh Golin, CCFC Executive Director, whose organization has just launched the Children’s Screen Time Action Network. The Network will host the first national conference on children’s screen time issues in Boston on April 20-21.

Concerned parents across the state are hopeful that legislators will pass the bill and ensure that their children are using the schools' equipment safely. The legislation has the support of Advocates for Baltimore County Schools and the Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County.

Queen Anne's County parent Cindy Eckard, who has spearheaded this effort, has compiled scientific studies and safety warnings from digital device manufacturers on her website, www.screensandkids.us and @screensandkids Twitter account to help educate policy makers, legislators and the public.

"While the debate over the personal use of screens will likely continue as a parenting issue, it is the legal responsibility of the schools and the individual teachers to avoid known hazards and provide a safe classroom. Educational applications pose the same risk to our children's developing eyes and growing bodies as any other content," she says.

"The medical evidence cannot be ignored: our children will be damaged without protections in the classroom."

The hearing for HB1110 is scheduled in the House Ways and Means Committee on Friday, March 2 at 1:00. For more information, contact Delegate Arentz's office at 410-841-3543, steven.arentz@house.state.md.us or Cindy Eckard: screensandkids@gmail.com.

MCCPTA Safe Tech Subcommittee Puts Out Best Practices for Digital Safety at School and at Home