From Classrooms to Clicks: The Rise of the Big Tech School

In just 3 minutes, a mother and teacher explains how our schools lost their way.

Across the country, parents and educators are waking up to a hard truth: the phone-based childhood is failing our kids. Schools are overwhelmed, students are struggling, and families are desperate for a new path forward. But what can one person do?

A lot—as it turns out.

This week, I’m honored to share a powerful 3-minute speech from one of our very own ScreenStrong Speaker Ambassadors, Emily Brownlee, a former high school teacher and mom of four. Emily recently spoke before the Kansas State Department of Education, and in just a few minutes, she boldly captured what so many of us are seeing: our classrooms are being overrun by Big Tech, and our kids are paying the price.

What makes Emily’s voice so compelling is her lived experience—from both the front of the classroom and the heart of her home. She knows what’s happening to our kids' brains, their learning, and their emotional health. And she knows what needs to change.

Below is the video and the transcript of Emily’s remarks. I hope her courage will inspire you to start conversations in your own school community—and to know that you are not alone in wanting something better for your children.

—Melanie

ScreenStrong Ambassador Emily Brownlee speaking before the Kansas State Department of Education.

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Transcript

Good morning, and thank you for including us in your conversation today!

Over the years, many health professionals and advocates have spoken to this board about the harms a technology dependent school has on children and teens.

In the months to come, I hope we can partner together to discuss Kids’ Brains & Screens, but today I am here to paint a painful, yet realistic picture of what our children experience each day as they enter THE ALL NEW, BIG TECH AMERICAN SCHOOL.

Kids, Teens….Before you enter the building, do you have your:

Video Camera in case you want to capture and post an embarrassing picture or video of a classmate?

Your TikTok App

All your Instagram Influencers

Your Music

Netflix

YouTube

Discord

Pics that are circling the school?

Is your Geolocation ON and your 1,000 SNAPCHAT strangers in your pocket?

Oh, Don’t forget your online gaming…

Fortnite

Minecraft

League of Legends

And make sure you still have access to millions of pornography videos

Phew, we are so glad you are prepared for school! To “enhance your learning experience”, we are going to give you a 1:1 device to use all day as you sit at your desk. With this machine, you can:

Watch entertaining videos for the duration of class.

Alienate your teachers and peers.

Discover multiple ways around the firewall.

Cheat your way through high school.

“Learn” math, science, and reading in a gamified way.

Let Google create a digital profile of you and allow the YouTube algorithm to lead you down a destructive path full of inappropriate content.

Lastly, when you use the school-approved apps, you consent for EdTech to steal and sell your information because, in their privacy agreements, most say:

QUOTE “When you access or use our Service, you are deemed to consent to the collection, use, retention, transfer, structuring, manipulation, storage, transmission and/or disclosure of your information.” END QUOTE.

Most importantly, though, kids, you must sign a digital compliance agreement not to “misuse” the drug-like devices that are designed to be addictive that we allow at our school.

As a former high school teacher and a mother of four children, it’s alarming why I constantly have to prove with scientific research why this invasive technology is detrimental to our kids when nobody in the field of education can prove why it was beneficial to be introduced in the first place.

Why did we allow schools to become Silicon Valley Profit Centers?

Why did we replace human interaction with machines?

Why did we replace pencil and paper with keyboards and physical books with digital ones?

Why did we force our children to stare at a screen for 7 hours a day when we had zero research on what it would do to their eyes, their brain, and their humanity?

Technology (as it’s currently being used) is not the future of education; it is the demise of education.

You have a golden opportunity, as Dennis recently mentioned, for “Kansas to be a lighthouse for the nation”.

Save the current generation and all those that follow by eliminating the 1:1 tech programs in our schools and by prohibiting distracting & addictive personal devices for the entire school day.

Then, and only then, will we be well on our way toward educational equity, transformative classrooms, and flourishing human beings.

Thank you.

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Meet Emily Brownlee

Emily Brownlee is a passionate educator, M.Ed., and ScreenStrong Speaker Ambassador who combines classroom experience, adolescent psychology, and ScreenStrong’s medical research and practical solutions to confront today’s screen-saturated youth culture.

Emily believes that kids shouldn’t be handed addictive devices or toxic platforms before they’re legally & developmentally old enough to make informed choices.

“Big Tech is the new Big Tobacco,” she says. “And I hope it doesn’t take us 50 years to set the right boundaries.”

Through ScreenStrong’s life-changing educational curriculum, Emily empowers students with brain science and equips them with the tools they need to reclaim their focus, mental health, and childhood. She leads full-scale culture-shifting programs that include student workshops, teacher and parent trainings, and the formation of phone-free leadership teams in schools.

Through her presentations and advocacy, Emily helps communities understand:

• The science behind screens and emotional health
  

• The importance of real-world friendships, play, and problem-solving
  

• How to create screen-free spaces at home, in schools, and in the wider community.

Her work centers on the Kids Brains & Screens curriculum—now helping students across the country rediscover their focus, confidence, and connection.

“One day, social media will be banned for children and teens—Gen Z will make sure that happens.”

Want to be part of the change?
Use Emily’s message as a spark to speak with decision-makers in your school community—and bring the Kids Brains & Screens curriculum to your school. Kids are craving a higher standard. Let’s gift it to them.

About ScreenStrong

Melanie Hempe, BSN, is the founder of ScreenStrong, a nonprofit organization, and the author of the Kids’ Brains and Screens Series for students and parents. She is dedicated to preventing and reversing childhood screen addictions by providing scientific evidence and a community (Connect and Connect Plus) for families around the globe. Her educational material is filled with everything she wished she had known before her oldest child suffered from a screen addiction. ScreenStrong has created what every family needs—education and community—to skip toxic screens through adolescence so teens can reach their full potential.

Visit here for family resource materials and here for our Phone-Free Schools Guide, and visit ScreenStrong.org to learn more and join the community that is saving childhood.