By Leyla Bilalova · WIIN Journalism Fellow
For years, Schnelle Acevedo created digital campaigns for brands such as Disney, Netflix, and Amazon. Understanding how to capture and hold people’s attention online was a key part of her work. Today, through her company, BAM Digital Media, she brings that experience into New York City classrooms, helping students understand why certain content catches their attention and how a quick check of their phone can turn into hours of scrolling.
Ms. Acevedo began teaching digital literacy after noticing how screens were affecting her own children. With so much information within easy reach, she believes children need help understanding the digital world they navigate.
“These kids have been given a computer in their hands that can go anywhere and can go to any part of the world,” she says.
With such extensive access to digital devices, children’s screen habits begin taking shape long before they enter a classroom. In the U.S., children aged two to four averaged just over two hours a day on screens, while about half of teenagers aged 12–17 reported spending at least four hours daily outside of school work. Ms. Acevedo believes that digital literacy lessons should reflect students’ ages and the platforms they use. For younger children, that might mean discussing Roblox; for older students, the focus shifts to other parts of their digital lives.
“I talk about screenshot culture. I also talk about online privacy with them as well, because I do believe that middle school is that really weird time where kids are just doing whatever they want online. And if a parent is not paying close attention, lots of bad things can happen,” she says.
Her teaching approach changes with age, too. To make the learning process more engaging and relatable for younger children, Ms. Acevedo draws on familiar examples, such as their favorite YouTubers or streamers. “It’s pretty easy to get them engaged because no one’s really talking to them about the internet,” she says.
In her classroom, she openly discusses the concerns her students raise about their online lives. One concern that comes up very often is that students struggle to stop scrolling, worried they will miss something or be left out of conversations.
“They don’t know how to stop scrolling because they don’t want to miss the next thing. They don’t want to be outside of the conversation,” she says. Ms. Acevedo believes that one of the most important steps in breaking this cycle is to recognize what keeps them scrolling. “It’s easier for them to identify where the problem is and then attack the problem,” she says. To become more aware of their online habits, Ms. Acevedo encourages young people to look closely at how much time they spend online, when they go to bed, and whether they reach for their phones when they cannot sleep.
“Are you looking at the phone before you go to sleep? Are you looking at the phone in the middle of the night if you can’t sleep?” she asks.
Ms. Acevedo’s work extends beyond her own classroom to other schools in New York, where she leads workshops for students. Schools sometimes invite her to speak with parents about screen time because they believe families may be more receptive to hearing the research from someone outside the school. “They need a third person to come in with all of the research and talk about screen time,” Ms. Acevedo says.
These conversations have taken on new urgency as New York City rethinks the role of technology in its classrooms. Under the new policy, student-facing generative AI is prohibited through eighth grade for one year, while high schools may allow limited, supervised use. It also recommends daily limits on individual classroom screen time: 30 minutes for grades three to five and 45 minutes for grades six to eight, with exceptions for accessibility and certain educational activities. As an educator who teaches children the importance of limiting their screen time, Ms. Acevedo welcomes these changes.
“I think it’s fantastic, to be honest with you,” she says. “I’m very much a person that loves to have kids write and get on paper again.”
At home, setting limits can be more complicated. Parents often face a dilemma: they want children to spend less time on screens without cutting them off from their friends. Acevedo emphasizes that parents must decide what works for their household. To help families agree on boundaries, her company distributes screen time agreements during its workshops.
Finding a balance, however, often goes beyond setting limits. Ms. Acevedo encourages people to make time for activities they enjoy away from their phones, whether it is reading a book or going on a bike ride – what she describes as “finding what makes you happy again, or what will make you happy outside of the phone.”