By Dan Clark
October 14, 2026
It is easy to assume teens are simply glued to their devices at all hours of the day. Many adults might shrug and say, “Kids today are addicted to their screens,” without truly considering what that means. Yet most students are simply using the tools available to them, a dynamic no more inherently addictive than when people feared television would rot the brains of youth in the 1960s and 1970s.
Technology addiction is a real issue, and knowing the signs and how to spot them is vital for educators. So what should we be on the lookout for? How do we distinguish the tech savvy from the tech addicted? And most importantly, how do we support students in the classroom and in an ever-evolving digital world?