The screen cost: Nigeria's digital challenge
The Global Shift in Classroom Technology Across the world, governments are rethinking the role of digital devices in classrooms. Digital devices, such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, and smartwatches, are electronic tools that enable communication, information access, and interactive learning. While they have become central to modern education, their overuse is now under scrutiny. Countries once hailed for their rapid embrace of technology are now reversing course, citing evidence of declining attention spans, concentration, difficulty with information retention, and a rise in what experts call digital dementia, a condition where overdependence on screens leads to memory lapses, poor focus, and a decline in cognitive abilities once strengthened by handwriting, deep reading, and sustained attention. South Korea recently passed a landmark law to ban mobile phones and digital devices in classrooms beginning March 2026, after surveys revealed that more than a third of students admitted...