AI and Tech Backlash in Education: What the Back-to-School Season Is Really Telling Us
Something shifted in the 2026 back-to-school season. After years of rapid adoption, education technology is facing a sustained correction that is not a crash, but a recalibration driven by research, liability, and eroding institutional trust. This paper examines the four forces behind that shift:
- The device and screen time backlash
- Social media platform liability
- AI in the classroom
- The broadband and E-Rate infrastructure moment
Each tells a different part of the same story: that edtech is entering a maturity phase, and the vendors, districts, and policymakers that understand that will navigate it better than those that don't.
AI in Education
K-20 Policy
Screen Time
Platform Liability
Broadband / E-Rate
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