Do you remember the excitement back when the internet was new?
It was wild that you could post something on this “world wide web” and anyone could see it, anywhere in the world.
We couldn’t believe we could type out a chat message to a friend and she could see it and write back, and have a whole conversation, without even needing to pick up the phone.
But what once felt exciting is now suffocating. When internet access was rare and infrequent, it felt fun. Now that it’s all around us, we are drowning in it.
What screens do to our brains
The signs are all there.
Back in 2010, Nicholas Carr’s The Shallows: How the Internet Is Changing the Way We Think, Read and Remember warned that online reading led to lower comprehension and retention.
The 2020 film The Social Dilemma revealed the negative effects of social media, directly from some of those who designed it.
Then in 2024, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness made clear how screen time is harming children’s mental health and development — so much so that the Surgeon General called for “warning labels” on social media last year.
The science is clear: It’s the screens.
Of course, there are benefits to technology: You’re reading this on a screen, after all, and we all like living in a world with Google Maps, online grocery delivery, and online audiobooks.
But unfettered internet access is doing no one any favors. We are finding ourselves unable to focus for long — as if we were an entire population with symptoms of ADHD. We can’t look each other in the eye and have a conversation. Kids aren’t playing outside. We look at our phones more than at our spouses or children. Social media makes us discontented and stressed.
And honestly, these are the “less bad” repercussions. I won’t even get into cyberbullying, online scams and hacks, and the darker sides of the internet.
The growing tech backlash
If you’re tired of letting your real life suffer at the expense of the internet, you might be part of embracing the “tech backlash,” even if you didn’t realize it. There’s a growing number of people — many in the younger generation — pushing back against the forces enslaving our attention.
Many of us hate what smart phones have done to our relationships. A low-screen life is increasingly becoming a goal for people all over the world.
And if you’re trying to cut back on screen time? Even better than doing it alone is a whole community joining together to push back against the tech that’s stealing our attention, focus, and connection.
That’s why many parents want their kids to go to tech-free schools. In a world where school districts brag about huge technology budgets and give every kindergartener an iPad, many families believe there’s a better way. They want their children to experience a slow-paced, calm, relaxed childhood—like the childhoods so many of us remember.
If you’re one of those parents, you might appreciate this list of tech-free elementary schools all over the U.S.
Did we leave out a school near you? Let us know in the comments!
Tech-free elementary schools
CT – Regina Pacis Academy (PreK–8)
IL – Kingswood Academy (PreK–8)
IN – St. Thomas More Academy (PreK–8)
KY – Holy Angels Academy (PreK–8)
KY – Immaculata Classical Academy (Pre-K through 12)
MD – Avalon & Brookewood (each K–12)
MD – St. Jerome Academy (PreK–8)
MI – Resurrection School (PreK–8)
MI – Sacred Heart Academy (PreK–12)
NE – St. John Paul II Academy (K–12)
ND – Saint Joseph Catholic Montessori School (PreK–8)
OH – Padre Pio Academy (K-12)
PA – Aquinas Academy of Pittsburgh (PreK–12)
TX – Magnolia School (K–8)
TX – St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School (PK3–8)
TX – Faustina Academy (K–12)
VA – St. Rita School (PreK–8)
VA – Chelsea Academy (K-12)
VA – Divinum Auxilium Academy (PreK–8)
WA – St. Charles School (K–8)
