Have you had conflict at home over screen time? We’ve heard from many parents who have encountered these conflicts with school devices over which they have little to no control.

We are Seattle Families for Intentional Tech (SFIT), a group of Seattle Public Schools parents/caregivers who care deeply about how educational technologies are used in our kids’ classrooms and about our role in mediating those experiences.

Our founders, both parents of kids in Seattle Public Schools, are Hilary Patterson, a Seattle based teacher since 2012, and Erica Shutes-David, LMFT, a mental health therapist with specialization in ADHD. We formed SFIT to rally together other parents/caregivers so we can begin to get traction with the Seattle school board and our local school administrators. 

At the bare minimum, we believe the Seattle school district needs clear, publicly accessible policies around using tech in school, particularly devices connected to the internet, AI-based software, or programs that send data about our kids to external organizations. We are troubled that these kinds of ed tech are likely operating without our consent or knowledge. 

We also seek to encourage schools to move away from 1:1 devices in elementary school (and perhaps older grades too). The research says that kids learn better through writing than typing, so let’s give them years of that practice before we unleash them on the internet with all its distractions and predators. Instead, schools could use tech funding for computer labs and staff who teach technology skills (e.g., typing, healthy tech habits, using critical thinking in the tech world). We are pro technology education, but we strongly question the benefits and motivations of ed tech.

We want to see our kids thrive, build relationships with educators, and develop the critical thinking skills to both operate a tablet and problem solve in the real world.