I don't think that's the problem.

By that fall, the Maine Learning Technology Initiative had distributed 17,000 Apple laptops to seventh graders across 243 middle schools. By 2016, those numbers had multiplied to 66,000 laptops and tablets distributed to Maine students.

The introduction of the iPhone in 2007 also didn’t help.

Like, wtf is that sentence even supposed to mean.

Pretty much every single time someone does a study on "technological* impact on learning" for example handwriting and typing, they mess with the methodology or they don't have a good control group or system. And then the result is always that their traditional system is better.

They never genuinely switch methods and put effort into TEACHING the new tech and with the new tech. Obviously you can't just hand out laptop and the competence just... diffuses into the kids, because internet. That's nonsense.

Horvath noted not only dipping test scores, but also a stark correlation in scores and time spent on computers in school, such that more screen time was related to worse scores.

one guy noticing a correlation better not be "good science" at this point.