Even the most ordinary moments in daily life present a learning opportunity for young children.
Take a trip to the grocery store, for instance, where kids can pick up new vocabulary spanning the alphabet—from avocados to zucchinis. But today’s family trip to the store is just as likely to find a parent pushing a cart while a child sits absorbed in a tablet or smartphone.
From family outings to bedtime rituals, electronic devices have taken on a central role in the lives of children as young as toddlers. Forty percent of children have their own personal tablet by age 2, and nearly 25% of 8-year-olds own a cellphone, according to a 2025 national report by Common Sense Media. Educators say the effects are increasingly visible in the classroom.
The impacts are glaring, cut across all foundational skills, and are tough to overcome, teachers reported in response to a January 2026 EdWeek Research Center survey that included a nationally representative group of 1,163 early educators and administrators who work with children in pre-K through 3rd grade. The survey provided a forum for respondents to comment on what they’re witnessing among today’s youngest students—and they did not hold back.
Dozens of early educators shared concerns about students’ school readiness, pointing to gaps in age-appropriate motor skills, social-emotional maturity, attention spans, and overall independence. Many attributed these challenges largely to excessive screen time and permissive parenting.
One respondent wrote: “Young children are given too much screen time and not enough interaction with peers or adults and their environments. They need more conversation, not a screen at a restaurant, in the shopping cart, in the car, in the stroller, etc. Adults need to be talking to them, reading to them, giving them opportunities to explore their community.”
Survey respondents shared not only why they think young students are struggling with basic foundational skills, but also how. Keep reading to learn more.
Struggling with independence
Schools operate on a packed schedule, with little room for delays. When students arrive at school needing assistance with basic tasks—like opening their lunch items, putting their coats on, or using the bathroom—they disrupt the schedule and prevent the class from functioning efficiently. While teachers expect occasional disruptions of this sort from their young students. But many say they are seeing a disturbing trend in which a growing number of students come to school unprepared to function independently in the classroom.
Click through the slides below to read comments from educators about students’ decreasing independence.
Lacking in age-appropriate motor skills
Students start their formal education expected to use their fingers and hands to manipulate objects, from blocks to paint brushes to crayons and pencils. Notably, in spite of our increasing reliance on technology and the simplicity it affords (think swiping and tapping as opposed to writing long-form), a growing number of states are requiring students to learn cursive handwriting, generally between grades 2 and 5.
Advocates of cursive point to its cognitive benefits over typing, including better memory and recall of words and letters. But it also requires fairly advanced fine motor skills—an area where some educators say students are struggling. Survey respondents suggest these challenges extend to a range of tasks requiring hand strength and coordination.
Click through the slides below to read early educators’ comments on students’ underdeveloped motor skills.
Decline in social-emotional maturity
Following instructions. Taking turns. Responding to disappointment without emotional outbursts. These are baseline expectations in early education. Students who haven’t mastered these abilities will have a hard time learning much of anything in a classroom environment.
Teachers say this is a reality for a growing number of students new to school. For instance, 72% of early educators report that their students struggle to follow instructions more so than their same-age peers two years ago, according to the EdWeek Research Center’s January early learning survey.
Click through the slides below to read what early educators are saying about their students’ social-emotional skills.
Shorter attention spans
Content on electronic devices moves fast, often accompanied by bright colors, flashing images, and other engaging ways of holding users’ attention. By contrast, the pages of a book are static. Today’s students, many of whom arrive at school having spent countless hours in front of screens, may not be willing or able to attend long enough to become absorbed in the storyline a print book promises. For some teachers, asking students to pay attention during even less entertaining classroom activities than read-alouds may seem like an insurmountable task.
Click through the slides below to read what teachers say about students’ attention spans.
