November 8th, 2026
There is a huge banner hanging off the wall of the Tamarack Waldorf School building. It is there to advertise the school to anybody who happens to drive along Brady Street in Milwaukee. The banner boldly proclaims that Tamarack is “screen-free”, which is an interesting selling point for a private school. Most schools proudly tell the world that they have the newest and most advanced technology. Why would Tamarack, the school that Asher attends, want to say that it rejects video screens and maybe by extension cyberspace overall?
The fact is that excessive screen time in small children does a lot of damage. There can be cognitive and language delays. Screen time can create sleep disruptions, negatively impact social skill development, cause problems with concentration and attention span, and mess with brain development and overall physical health in young kids. A school that eschews screens for children can attract concerned parents. It makes sense for Tamarack to broadcast this.
Is the school totally screen-free? I checked on that. The banner should probably say, “screen-free to the greatest extent possible”, but that would be really hard to fit on a banner. The school is mostly screen-free, and completely so until students reach the middle school grades. Asher is in kindergarten now. It is unlikely that he will use any device with a screen at the school for the next six years. Yes, screens exist at Tamarack, but their use is kept to an absolute minimum.
When my wife and I went to the parents’/caregivers’ orientation for the students, the two kindergarten teachers made it abundantly clear that they did not want the children to watch any videos before coming to school. They described the detrimental effect that screen time has on young children. Asher’s teacher told everyone, “If they have been watching, we will know it!”
Screens are ubiquitous in our country. It takes a real effort not to use them. It is ironic that I have to stare at a screen to write an essay about how screen time can negatively affect children (and probably adults too).
A person might ask if children wouldn’t learn a great deal if screens were more available. Maybe, maybe not. The school puts great emphasis on being part of the natural world. Most of what can be learned is “out there”, not inside a computer or on the Internet. I don’t remember much from my early childhood, but I have a distinct recollection of watching a beetle move slowly through the grass in our backyard. I was fascinated by that insect. I can also recall staring at the churning black clouds as a thunderstorm rolled into the area. That too made me gaze in wonder. I have never gazed in wonder at anything on a glowing screen.
Now, at the age of sixty-eight, I am still sometimes awestruck by the world outside. I got up this morning before dawn, and I saw the planet Venus blazing like a white diamond in the eastern sky, peaking through the leafless boughs of the trees in our yard. I had to stop and look at it. The morning star was glorious, and it filled me with joy to see it.
There is nothing on any screen that could match that.
