Maine's 2002 laptop initiative sparked a nationwide push to digitize classrooms, with the U.S. spending over $30 billion on devices by 2024. The goal was to empower students with unprecedented access to information, but the results have been troubling. Neuroscientist Jared Cooney Horvath testified that Gen Z is the first generation in modern history to score lower on standardized tests than their parents.

Despite access to technology, cognitive capabilities have declined over the past decade. Horvath cited Program for International Student Assessment data showing a stark correlation between screen time and lower scores. The introduction of the iPhone in 2007 coincided with this downward trend. While literacy and numeracy aren't perfect measures of intelligence, they reflect cognitive capability, which has been eroding.

Horvath argues this isn't a failure of students but of policy. He calls Gen Z victims of a failed pedagogical experiment, warning that diminished learning capabilities threaten humanity's ability to tackle complex challenges like climate change and evolving diseases. Seventeen states have now banned cellphones during instructional time, while 35 states limit classroom phone use. Congress could impose efficacy standards for educational technology and restrict data collection on minors. The question remains whether these measures can reverse the damage of decades of misguided tech integration.