School children are being developmentally delayed and turned into zombies by overusing screens and devices, NSW Education Minister Prue Car has warned.
Speaking at a summit of education policymakers, the deputy premier, said the recent introduction in NSW public schools of limits on classroom screen use from the start of Term 1 next year would reduce students’ reliance on digital devices and enable them to concentrate better and focus on their learning.
“The most pressing need for students, I believe, is sustained offline time,” she said. “We need to teach concentration and focus again.
“Overdosing on screen use is taxing the human brain.
“We are currently facing a generation who are more likely to be developmentally delayed. A day of looking at tiny illuminated pixels… they’re near zombified children.”
Car said everyday activities were important because “using those fine motor skills creates neurological pathways that helps build the brain itself”.
“They (kindergarteners) don’t know how to hold a pencil or crayon,” she added. “They don’t know how to turn the page of a picture book. Some swipe right on the cover to open it, rather than turning the pages.”
The state government’s new guidelines, announced last month, will cap time spent using laptops, tablets and desktop computers according to students’ year level. Children in kindergarten to Year 2 will be limited to 15 minutes a day, rising to 30 minutes for Years 3 and 4, and 45 minutes for Years 5 and 6.
Kindergarten children are less emotionally regulated, more challenging and prone to tantrums… their vocabulary use is limited.
Prue Car, NSW Minister for Education and Early Learning
Students in Years 7 to 10 will be limited to screens for up to one-quarter of each subject’s teaching time, while Years 11 and 12 students will be capped at half of subject time across a week. The new limits will take effect in NSW public schools from the start of Term 1, 2027.
Schools will also be encouraged to provide at least one hour of daily learning using pen and paper, with the government arguing handwriting and reading from paper support learning foundations. The policy builds on NSW’s 2023 mobile phone ban in public schools and September restrictions on take-home HSC assessments introduced amid concerns about artificial intelligence and student learning.
The NSW Government said the limits would “curb excessive screen use, improve attention, and ultimately lift educational outcomes”, while ensuring students do not miss “the essential educational foundations of literacy and numeracy”.
Speaking at The Policymaker Summit 2026 at the University of Technology Sydney on September 30, Car said the limits were intended to help children “thrive in an increasingly technologically complex world”.
She acknowledged technology had benefits in teaching but argued screens should not replace the foundational skills and in-person interactions children need to learn.
“Kindergarten children are less emotionally regulated, more challenging and prone to tantrums… their vocabulary use is limited,” she added.
The changes come amid wider concerns about Australian students’ learning and classroom environments.
The 2025 Program for International Student Assessment results found Australian 15-year-olds remained above the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development average in reading and mathematics. However, reading scores have fallen seven points since 2022 and 37 points since 2000, while mathematics scores have declined nine points since 2022 and 46 points since 2003.
Source: Program for International Student Assessment, 2025
The assessment also found 39 per cent of Australian students reported their peers were distracted by digital devices during most or all science lessons, compared with an OECD average of 28 per cent. Forty-one per cent said noise and disorder disrupted most or every science lesson, above the OECD average of 31 per cent.
National NAPLAN results released this year similarly showed around one in three students were in the “Developing” or “Needs additional support” proficiency levels across literacy and numeracy measures.
Source: Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2026.
While the data does not establish that screens alone are responsible for lower outcomes or classroom disruption, it has intensified debate over how schools should use technology.
Also speaking at The Policymaker Summit 2026, Elizabeth Wood, NSW Health’s Deputy Secretary for Health System Strategy and Patient Experience, said schools and governments needed to balance limits with digital education.
“We need education and digital literacy to protect children and adults in the community,” Wood said.
Main image courtesy of Brad Flickinger/Flickr.
