Looking for an educational life raft? Apps may not be the answer

About every second, there’s half a billion Google hits for “learning loss Covid!” As we pass the first anniversary of remote learning and school closures, parents and policymakers are terrified of the pending learning loss from schools’ closed doors and the switch to virtual reading, writing, and math lessons.

As children moved from mortar and brick to remote classrooms, screen time also went up by as much as 50 percent. And with it came a boom for the educational app market, with companies like Apple and Google reporting increases of more than 180 billion collective app hours during the summer of 2020–25 percent gains over the year before.