What Happens When We Give Kids Their Attention Back?
Why I want families and schools to participate in The UnPluggEd Project this October
I spend a lot of time talking about executive function, particularly because we expect children to develop skills such as sustained attention, impulse control, working memory, frustration tolerance, flexible thinking, problem solving, task initiation, and independence. We ask them to remember directions, manage their time, tolerate boredom, communicate with other people, and stay with difficult tasks even when the answer is not immediately available.
What we do not always consider is whether the environments we create give children enough opportunities to practice those skills.
That is why I am so interested in The UnPluggEd Project. From October 5 through 9, 2026, Smartphone Free Childhood US and the Distraction Free Schools Policy Project are inviting schools, families, homeschool groups, libraries, after school programs, and community organizations across the country to experiment with distraction free learning. Participants can choose one day, two or three days, or the entire week.
The premise is straightforward: reduce reliance on internet-connected devices and make more room for discussion, reading, writing, creativity, collaboration, hands-on learning, and human connection. The organizers are also clear that this is not an anti-technology campaign, and that distinction matters. We want to simply consider whether technology is always the most appropriate tool for the learning taking place.
Conversations about children and screens often become unnecessarily polarized. Technology is described either as the tool that will transform education or as something that should be removed entirely. Neither position helps us think carefully about what children actually need.
A more useful question is: What is the best tool for the skill or concept we are trying to teach right now?
Sometimes the answer will be a computer. At other times, a pencil, a book, a conversation, or a hands-on activity will serve the purpose better. There are also moments when the most valuable learning comes from sitting with a difficult problem long enough to work through it, or from collaborating with another person rather than immediately searching for an answer.
It should contribute to the task rather than become the default simply because it is available. Technology should have a meaningful reason for being part of the learning environment.
This is the part of the conversation that particularly interests me. Executive function skills do not develop merely because adults tell children to pay attention, manage their time, be responsible, or stay focused. Children develop these abilities through repeated opportunities to use them in situations that are appropriately challenging and supported.
Frustration tolerance grows when children experience manageable frustration and learn that they can work through it. Sustained attention develops when they spend increasing amounts of time engaged with something that does not constantly change to hold their interest. Problem solving becomes stronger when children encounter problems that are not immediately solved for them. Working memory is exercised when they have to hold information in mind and use it. Independence develops when children are given opportunities to plan, remember, make mistakes, adjust their approach, and try again.
Boredom also has developmental value. When every unstructured moment is immediately filled with stimulation, children have fewer chances to decide what to do with their own time, generate ideas, or discover that they can remain engaged without being entertained.
None of this means that supports are unnecessary. Children with executive function challenges absolutely need appropriate accommodations, scaffolding, and instruction. There is, however, an important difference between supporting a developing skill and removing every opportunity to practice it. If we want children to become more capable of focusing, managing frustration, and working independently, they need environments in which those abilities can gradually develop.
The project is not limited to schools. Families can participate in ways that are simple and realistic, whether that means putting phones away during dinner, spending an evening without everyone disappearing into a separate device, playing cards, cooking together, reading, going outside, taking a walk, or doing something that requires the use of hands and attention.
Children can also be given the opportunity to figure out what to do when they are bored rather than having every empty moment filled for them. That does not require an elaborate activity plan. In fact, the simplicity is part of the point. A screen-free evening does not need to become another carefully managed project. It can simply provide a little more room for conversation, creativity, rest, and unstructured time.
One screen-free day will not solve our technology problem
Of course it will not. That is not the purpose.
The value of an experiment like this is that it interrupts the default and gives adults and children something to compare. We do not always recognize how much an environment has changed until we temporarily remove one of its most familiar features. After one day, several days, or an entire week, a school or family may decide that some of the changes are worth continuing.
Perhaps not every assignment needs a laptop. Perhaps younger students do not need devices open throughout the entire school day. Perhaps some classes would benefit from more handwritten work, more discussion, or more opportunities to build and create. Perhaps downtime does not always need to be filled. Perhaps technology can become something we choose intentionally rather than something we reach for automatically.
Those are worthwhile conversations, even if the experiment does not produce a single universal answer.
The project is not limited to schools. Families can participate in ways that are simple and realistic, whether that means putting phones away during dinner, spending an evening without everyone disappearing into a separate device, playing cards, cooking together, reading, going outside, taking a walk, or doing something that requires the use of hands and attention.
Children can also be allowed to figure out what to do when they are bored rather than having every empty moment filled for them. That does not require an elaborate activity plan. In fact, the simplicity is part of the point. A screen-free evening does not need to become another carefully managed project. It can simply provide a little more room for conversation, creativity, rest, and unstructured time.
One screen-free day will not solve our technology problem
Of course it will not. That is not the purpose.
The value of an experiment like this is that it interrupts the default and gives adults and children something to compare. We do not always recognize how much an environment has changed until we temporarily remove one of its most familiar features. After one day, several days, or an entire week, a school or family may decide that some of the changes are worth continuing.
Perhaps not every assignment needs a laptop. Perhaps younger students do not need devices open throughout the entire school day. Perhaps some classes would benefit from more handwritten work, more discussion, or more opportunities to build and create. Maybe downtime does not always need to be filled. Perhaps technology can become something we choose intentionally rather than something we reach for automatically.
Those are worthwhile conversations, even if the experiment does not produce a single universal answer.
Thanks for reading!
Nicole
Sign up/Register for this initiative here:
Learn all about the Distraction-Free Schools Project here:
https://www.distractionfreeschools.com/
related links and resources:
Nicole Rouleau’s Substack
Screens can Present Information That does not Make them Education Blog
Screens Don’t Raise Kids, You do! Digital Guide
EdTech Resource Library
Questions to ask your school. (With all I now know, I would personally tell the school, "I don't want my child having a school-issued device. Please let me know how I can support.")
Webinar from Emily Cherkin for opt-out help and tips.
Link to Science of Learning webinar with Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath and Superintendent Stan Winborne.
-Emily Cherkin's Substack
-Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath's Substack
-EdTech advocacy toolkit (the Q&A's in red are very helpful. See different tabs on the side or bottom of the document)
-EdTech advocacy interactive guide here
