The EdTech Enmeshment Problem—and How to Fix It

A kindergartner plays on his iPad before school instead of the playground. A middle school student today cannot complete her homework without accessing the internet or reading on a screen. Every essay a high school student writes lives inside a cloud-based learning management system.

In psychology, “enmeshment” refers to the idea that overly-intertwined relationships blur boundaries, leading to emotional fallout for those involved. Much has been written about enmeshment in family dynamics; less so about the entanglement of educational technology (“EdTech”) in schools. But education has an EdTech enmeshment problem.  

EdTech Is In Everything

Today, most teaching tools are digital: grading portals, student information systems, digital curricula, parent communication systems, assessment tools, and more. Schools no longer hand out paper planners, assignments are turned in via digital platforms, and grades are posted in a portal accessible to parents.

Around 2012, we shifted from “technology as a tool to support teachers” to providing every child access to a computer. Today, most K-12 students have access to internet-connected devices via “1:1 programs” (one device for every child), and while some of the content may be “educational,” children also chase points in gamified learning apps, watch YouTube, view pornography, and game on their school-issued devices. In spite of increasing evidence about the ineffectiveness of such products, schools continue to provide still-developing children access to the internet in the name of education. 

On top of all that, the onslaught of GenAI tools in education will only worsen existing EdTech challenges. The shift of standardized testing from paper to digital in 2017 and the SAT in 2024 conveniently presumed that most or all students have 1:1 devices (a computer lab in schools these days is rare) and disregarded compelling evidence that students perform better on standardized tests when they are on paper.

Failure to extricate ourselves from EdTech threatens the future of democracy itself. 

In other words, school systems rely so heavily on EdTech products to do almost everything that students and teachers “can’t do science” without a Chromebook, “can’t generate an essay” without a writing app (or ChatGPT), “can’t grade homework” without a learning management system, “can’t communicate with parents” without email accounts, and “can’t track student progress” without a digital database. 

How We Got Here

While it is tempting to blame today’s EdTech saturation on the pandemic, in reality the descent has been slow and steady for several decades. The pandemic accelerated what was already coming and offered justification to move fast(er) and break (more) things. There is not a single cause for this enmeshment; instead, it is a result of what I describe as an “EdTech Enmeshment Flywheel”—a compounding set of forces that leads schools to increasingly technologize education:

But isn’t it true that “technology is here to stay” and “children must learn to use these products or they will get left behind”? Not exactly. Children do need to learn about digital technology, the internet, research skills, algorithms, and so much more. But “technology education” is not Educational Technology. While TechEd only needs a teacher and possibly a computer lab, EdTech depends on the fact that children have access to the internet and 1:1 devices. 

The Dangers of Technologized-education

As has been proven over and over and over again, the internet is not a safe place for children. The Phone-Free Schools Movement is vital to protecting kids. However, it is confusing to advocate for phone bans in school, but hand children iPads on which to “learn.” It can’t be one and not the other.

Unfortunately, we have seen bad behavior perpetrated by technology companies for years and increasingly so today in the harms caused by the use of EdTech products themselves. Just as we resist the takeover of childhood by social media platforms, so must we resist the takeover of education by EdTech companies. After all, EdTech is just Big Tech in a sweater vest.

Herein lies the core problem of enmeshment: the business model of Big Tech is identical to the business model of EdTech. To generate profits, users must spend more time engaging with the digital product and on screens, and this is fundamentally at odds with child developmental needs. 

But failure to extricate ourselves from EdTech threatens the future of democracy itself. Children, already averaging 7.5 hours a day on internet-connected devices outside of school, will not build the skills of resilience that allow them to navigate the world as adults. Children “taught” by GenAI “tutors” (aka chatbots) will trust machines over people. Children deprived of free play (the very work of childhood) won’t learn to effectively navigate interactions with bosses or romantic partners later in life. The de-skilling of today’s children directly threatens democratic institutions themselves and puts all of us at risk. 

Parents, harness the anger you feel about smartphones and social media and fling that lasso around EdTech, too, because the harms and risks are one and the same.

Three Ideas for a Way Forward

The way forward begins by refusing to accept the notion that EdTech-saturated education is a foregone conclusion. It is not.

I propose three simple—albeit difficult—ways out of this morass. Though difficult, doing nothing will be far messier. 

1. Ask Three Questions

Before administrators sign multi-year contracts with EdTech companies, they must ask three simple questions: 

1. Is the product effective for teaching and learning, as evidenced by independent research?
2. Is the product safe for use by children, not just in the content they access, but in how the product is designed and the way it encourages more, not less, time on devices?
3. Does the product follow the law regarding data privacy?

Currently, the answer to all three is No. 

To be used by children in school settings, the answers to all three must be Yes, and those “yeses” ought to be obtained prior to contracting with any technology company. Unfortunately, Internet Safety Labs estimates that schools use hundreds of unique EdTech products per school. Because of this enmeshment, schools will have to retroactively revisit these questions with those companies with whom they have existing contracts. At a bare minimum, this checklist can immediately narrow down the list to tools that actually serve educational needs, demonstrate safety, and are private and secure for all users. 

2. Return to Tech Ed; Get Rid of EdTech

If technology skills are the skills of the future, then let’s teach them. Rebuild school computer labs or classroom laptop carts and abandon 1:1 programs (some districts are already doing this). Go back to single-purpose tools that serve a purpose and are controlled solely by the school (not private companies), like overhead projectors and non-digital whiteboards. Install downloaded software on any devices students access and get rid of WiFi in learning environments. Bring back books, paper, and pencils—forms of technology whose use increases learning outcomes, builds fine and gross motor skills, and returns the learning experience to the very core of education that matters most: community-based learning in the context of human relationships. Nary an algorithm in sight.

3. Do the Hard Thing Because It’s the Right Thing 

Courage seems to be in short supply these days, but the good news is that courage is an infinitely renewable resource. It’s time to rattle some cages and ask some uncomfortable questions because not doing those things means allowing technology companies to continue to run rampant over childhood and education. That is unacceptable.  

• School leaders, it’s time to buck the status quo, challenge the notion that tech companies have your students’ best interests at heart, and stop relying so heavily on data to solve your problems. Children are not standardized.
• Teachers, so often you’re between a rock and a hard place, but your jobs are on the line. The goal of technology companies is to scale, which means to serve more with less. That’s you. In the eyes of technology companies, you are the “less.” AI “tutors” are flooding the EdTech market because it’s cheaper to deploy bots on 1:1 devices students already have than it is to hire more humans. Reject this. 
• Parents, harness the anger you feel about smartphones and social media and fling that lasso around EdTech, too, because the harms and risks are one and the same. Ask questions. Talk to each other. Opt out.

Technology companies may have bigger marketing budgets and more persuasive advertising, but we have wisdom and research on our side. It may feel like we’re David to a Goliath, but remember– David won. 

A Call to Action

The challenge ahead is daunting, but enmeshment is not an excuse. It is not a foregone conclusion that schools should drown in EdTech consumerism and GenAI slop. We can fight back. But we can’t make changes alone. This is a group project. 

A school of fish swimming in the ocean knows when to change direction when one fish starts pulling away from the group, and then a second and third fish follow, before the whole school shifts. 

It’s time to be a first fish—or a second or third fish. Let’s go swimming. 

Emily Cherkin, M.Ed., is a writer, speaker, teacher, and advocate leading the charge for a tech-intentional™ childhood. Her book, The Screentime Solution: A Judgment-Free Guide to Becoming a Tech-Intentional Family, is in its second printing. She writes about EdTech at First Fish Chronicles. You can learn more about Emily on her website.