Like every day, I've gone to school and before I start working thoroughly, as always, I've had a coffee and I've gone to class. As soon as I walked in, I turned on the classroom computer and the projector and gave the students a good day, the four of them responded to me. Most of you are looking at computers, and you haven't noticed that the professor has come in. Once again I will have to fight against the classroom home screens to get the attention of the students.

Not long ago I read that in Sweden they have decided to set limits on the digital education plan. The Scandinavian country ranks ninth in the PIRLS report (international study to assess the level of reading and understanding of students). On the contrary, given the trend of students, they have decided to reduce the use of screens in classrooms and give priority to books. The Swedish counsellor said: “Books have advantages that a tablet cannot replace. We can create a generation full of functional illiterates.” In fact, according to a recent survey of 2,000 teachers in the country, one in five said that students never wrote anything by hand.

In addition to Sweden, there is also concern in other countries about the influence of screen use on education. For example, schools and parent associations in the Irish city of Greystones have agreed “Code without smartphone”. With this code, they commit to not buying mobile phones until they're 13. The group of parents CoLINE has denounced that in France schools are filling with screens and are making a dangerous road without reflection. The group considers that the delivery of the tablet or laptop to each child and young person does not guarantee better learning, but expands the capabilities. Open letter to the French Minister of Education. In the Netherlands, the government has also proposed to prohibit the use of mobile phones in schools starting in 2024, after agreement with schools and parents.

It seems, therefore, that although various research and evidence demonstrate the benefits of writing by hand (for example, it promotes cognitive development and memory), students generally read less and less, let us not say writing them by hand. In our case, the incorporation of digital devices is increasingly early, and in the educational field there are also local digitization plans, mostly subsidised, which are currently difficult to carry out without a computer.

Surely these forms of tools have brought us benefits. But are the resources we have used for generations not useful today? A steep road, a safe road. Before digital tools become the basis of the teaching-learning process, I consider that the presence they should have should be a meditated decision, combined with other resources.

Ioritz Gonzalez Lertxundi, professor