Head of Lower School Bill Mulcahy shares his insights on how technology is used in Lower School at Country Day, as well as his thoughts on its impact on students. From classroom integration to concerns about safety, Bill offers valuable perspectives for parents navigating technology use at home. He discusses key issues like group chats, device policies, and balancing screen time—both as an educator and as a father.
How do you use technology in Lower School?
We use technology in a lot of meaningful ways. In Design Lab, students use technology for robotics, engineering, and coding activities, to name a few. In the classroom, our goal for technology use is to enrich learning, and not to replicate things that can be done without technology!
What worries you most about technology and children?
My biggest concern is safety. As parents, and as a school leader, the most important thing we can do is keep our children safe. At school, this takes the form of stringent filtering, as well as being ever mindful of developmental appropriateness in the use of technology. As parents, this should look the same—filtering, careful monitoring, and not allowing students access to anything related to technology that is not developmentally appropriate.
How do you feel about group chats?
In the Lower School grades, I feel strongly that they are not age-appropriate, and have seen firsthand how conflict outside of school stemming from group chats can have negative impacts on peer relationships and friends at schools. While we can (and do) teach all about digital citizenship and the importance of making good and safe decisions online, I feel that if we give our children access to tools that are not developmentally appropriate, they will not be well-equipped to make safe, appropriate choices, regardless of how many times we remind them to make good choices.
Like a lot of things, this topic gets much more complicated in Middle School. This article presents a more favorable perspective of group chats with Middle School aged students, while also acknowledging the challenges they can bring and how parents can support them.
How do you see technology positively or negatively impacting students?
From a positive impact, some of the assistive technology supporting children who learn differently, particularly with language-based learning differences, is going to continue to be enormously beneficial for children. From a negative perspective, to use the term that author Jonathan Haidt uses, technology can be “experience blockers” for students, and have contributed to impacts to attention and mental health that are being demonstrated in contemporary research.
Are students allowed to bring devices from home to school?
No. Here’s what our family handbook says, “Wearable technology that can be used for texting/calls/internet browsing/ etc. is not allowed to be worn at school and must remain home or in student backpacks. Teachers will address concerns with individual students/families as they arise. Please note, phones are also not permitted at school and must stay in backpacks as well.”
As a dad dealing with the same challenges, how do you handle screens at home?
My sons are in fifth and seventh grade, and neither have cell phones. My oldest is not happy with me, and often shares that he is one of the few students (at least from his perspective) without a phone. Our family response is that he won’t be the last one to get a phone, but with phones and most technology, he’ll likely be one of the last ones. He stays connected with his friends through messaging on an iPad at home. Our biggest concern is social media and open internet access, neither of which we allow at home. We don’t want him to grow up fast. Managing technology at home is not without conflict! It is often the source of arguments, and as is often the case with parenting, some days we feel like we’re doing a great job, and other days we don’t. We find that the more screen time we allow at home, the more irritable and argumentative our children are when they get off of it. Ultimately, it’s a lot of work to manage, but from our perspective, well worth the effort.