Growing Up in a Digital World: Finding the Right Balance with Technology and AI

For today’s children and teenagers, technology is woven into nearly every aspect of daily life. Smartphones keep us connected. Digital tools open doors to information and creativity. Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing how we learn, work, and solve problems.

The challenge for families and schools is no longer simply whether children should use technology. It is helping them learn when, why, and how to use it well.

Renbrook Head of School Matt Sigrist recently joined Channel 3 Eyewitness News Extra with his daughter, Ana, for two conversations exploring this increasingly important topic. Together, they discussed the growing interest among teens in trading smartphones for simpler “dumb phones,” as well as the role of technology and AI (artificial intelligence) in schools.

Their conversations reflect a question Renbrook considers deeply: How do we prepare children for a technology-rich future while protecting the experiences they need to grow into capable, curious, thoughtful human beings?

When Less Technology Can Mean More

In the first Eyewitness News Extra segment, Matt and Ana joined the conversation about teenagers who are choosing to reduce their dependence on smartphones.

Watch: Teens Switching to “Dumb Phones”

The trend is an interesting one precisely because it is being driven, in part, by young people themselves. Constant connectivity can offer convenience and connection, but it can also compete for attention that might otherwise be spent talking with friends, pursuing an interest, being outdoors, reading, creating, or simply allowing the mind to wander.

For children in their formative years, those experiences matter.

At Renbrook, we believe childhood should offer abundant opportunities to engage with the world beyond a screen. Students learn through conversation and collaboration. They experiment, build, write, perform, explore the outdoors, solve problems, compete on athletic fields, create art, ask questions, and develop relationships with teachers and classmates who know them well.

Technology can enhance those experiences. It should not replace them.

That distinction becomes especially important as children grow older and begin making more decisions about their own technology use. Ultimately, the goal is not simply to enforce limits. It is to help students develop the self-awareness and judgment to create healthy boundaries for themselves.

Preparing Students for Technology and AI in Schools

That same philosophy shapes Renbrook’s approach to artificial intelligence.

In their second conversation with Eyewitness News Extra, Matt and Ana discussed technology policies in schools and the expanding role of AI in education.

Watch: Technology Policies in Schools

Artificial intelligence presents tremendous possibilities, but its presence in education also raises important questions.

When does AI deepen learning? When might it short-circuit the learning process? How do students learn to evaluate the information it produces? What does responsible use look like at different ages? And how do schools preserve creativity, critical thinking, intellectual struggle, and authentic student voice as these tools become increasingly powerful?

At Renbrook, our answer begins with purpose.

We do not embrace technology simply because it is new. We consider whether a tool meaningfully supports teaching and learning and whether its use aligns with our mission.

That is particularly important at a Preschool through Grade 8 school, where students are building the foundational skills and dispositions they will carry into high school, college, and adulthood.

Before a student asks AI to help solve a problem, that child needs opportunities to wrestle with problems independently. Before AI helps revise writing, students need to develop their own voices as writers. Before technology can accelerate research, children need to learn how to ask good questions, evaluate sources, recognize bias, and distinguish credible information from misinformation.

Those foundational skills matter more in an AI-powered world, not less.

Technology with Purpose

Renbrook has long believed that meaningful education is about more than acquiring information. It is about cultivating curiosity, confidence, resilience, creativity, character, and the ability to think deeply.

Technology belongs within that education when it serves those goals.

Sometimes the right tool may be a laptop or an AI application. At another moment, it may be a pencil, a musical instrument, a science experiment, a conversation with a teacher, or a walk through Renbrook’s 75-acre campus.

Knowing the difference is part of the learning.

As technology continues to evolve, schools and families will undoubtedly encounter new questions. We may not always know exactly what the next device, platform, or AI capability will bring. But the qualities children need to navigate those changes are much more enduring.

They need curiosity and discernment. They need strong relationships. They need confidence in their own thinking. They need opportunities to create, question, struggle, discover, and reflect.

And perhaps most importantly, they need adults who are willing to engage in these conversations alongside them.

At Renbrook, that thoughtful balance between innovation and the timeless needs of children will continue to guide us as we prepare students not simply to live in a changing world, but to help shape it.