National test data released this year shows a troubling pattern: reading and math scores began sliding around the same time many districts leaned hardest into one-to-one laptop and tablet programs, and they haven’t recovered the way many educators expected once pandemic disruptions eased. That timing doesn’t prove digital devices caused the decline on its own, but it has forced a harder look at what got traded away when screens replaced paper.

Part of the answer seems to be about attention, not content. Reading a few paragraphs on a device that also holds games, messages, and endless notifications asks a young brain to do something fundamentally different than reading the same paragraphs in a book with no competing pull. Several of the researchers behind this year’s data point to fragmented attention, not lack of access to information, as the more likely culprit behind slower gains in reading comprehension specifically.

Math tells a slightly different story. Some digital math platforms are genuinely well designed and adaptive, but many classrooms adopted software faster than teachers were trained to use it well, leading to more independent screen time and less of the guided problem-solving that helps struggling students actually understand a concept rather than just click through it.

None of this means the answer is ripping out every laptop cart. The schools showing the strongest rebounds this year are the ones treating technology as one tool among several, pairing digital practice with regular paper-based reading and writing, and being deliberate about which subjects and which age groups benefit most from screens versus print.