Your donation will help us produce journalism like this. Please give today.

This summer, one of the biggest movies for kids features a villain that isn’t a person at all — it’s a sleek smart tablet designed to replace the things that matter. Toy Story 5 struck a nerve with parents for a reason. But like most good metaphors, it breaks down if you push it too far.

Not all screens are Lilypad. And right now, we’re governing like they are.

State legislatures and school boards across the country are racing to answer the technology question by banning devices from classrooms. I understand the impulse. Smartphones in schools are a real problem. The research on adolescent mental health is not ambiguous: Heavy social media use is linked to increased rates of depression and anxiety in teens, and parents are right to be concerned.

When legislators write bills broad enough to sweep out smartphones and educational tools in the same breath, they aren’t protecting kids. They’re leaving them behind.

The most dangerous thing we can do right now is act as if every piece of technology in a classroom is the enemy.

Adaptive learning technology doesn’t treat every struggling student the same way. It finds exactly where a child is getting stuck and builds a path forward just for that student. For a kid falling behind, that’s the difference between catching up and getting left behind for good.

Good education technology gives a student in the San Fernando Valley or the Central Valley access to an expert teacher they’d never otherwise have. I’ve watched this firsthand. 

Growing up in Pacoima, I came to this country at 12 speaking no English. My parents didn’t enroll me in school. I taught myself to read and write in English and earned my diploma through adult night school. I know what it means to have to fight for access to education, and I know what it means when the system fails to meet kids where they are. 

The right tools in the hands of great teachers make a real difference. It lets kids explore ancient civilizations or the surface of the moon in ways that make them hungry to keep learning. It closes achievement gaps while giving a kid in a small town or low-income area the same shot as a kid in a well-funded suburb.

And right now, some of it is being swept out of classrooms in California by legislation that doesn’t make the distinction between a learning tool and a social media feed. We have to ensure these good faith policies that restrict recreational use of cell phones don’t become a slippery slope that takes learning tools away from students who need them. 

The answer isn’t “get rid of all of it.” It’s making the right distinctions. Teacher-directed tools — such as language translation software, adaptive math platforms and screen readers — are transparent to parents, proven to help kids learn and belong in classrooms. Devices designed to pull children into endless feeds and harvest their attention for advertisers do not. These are not the same thing, and we should recognize that contrast.

Education equity has long been a core California value, and that commitment has to extend to ensuring the tools that level the playing field aren’t banned alongside the ones causing real harm. 

My path into public service started with parents in the San Fernando Valley who were fighting for their kids’ rights in schools — families who knew the system wasn’t set up for them and were pushing back anyway. I helped found Padres Activos to make sure immigrant families had a voice in their children’s education. These are the communities that stand to lose the most if we get this wrong. We cannot afford to take these tools away from the kids who desperately need it. 

Absolutely pass smartphone bans in classrooms and restrict social media access on school networks. But do not let a well-intentioned wave of legislation become a blunt instrument that strips proven learning tools out of the hands of students who rely on them. Not all screens are bad.

The kids who fall through the cracks in a traditional classroom are counting on us to get this right. They don’t have a backup plan. And the technology that could have kept them on grade level, caught up, and competitive — that isn’t the villain. Treating it like one is.

Patty Lopez is a San Fernando City Council member and a former California assemblywoman for the 39th district.