A bipartisan effort is underway in Jefferson City to scale back the amount of screen time Missouri students have.
Rep. Tricia Byrnes, R‑Wentzville, and Rep. Marlene Terry, D‑St. Louis, have each filed legislation.
Byrnes’ plan limits K-5 students to 45 minutes of daily screen use and restores paper-based work, while Terry’s bill makes cursive instruction mandatory through fifth grade.
Byrnes said the bills would scale back screen time in elementary schools and serve as what she calls a responsible course correction.
“And the hard truth is, Generation Z is demonstrably less healthy, less happy, less cognitively developed than their parents were at the same age,” said Byrnes. “Guys, we’re going down. Steve Jobs didn’t even give iPads to his own kids when they were young.”
Byrnes said teachers across the state are raising red flags about how much time young kids spend on devices in the classroom.
“Eighty percent of them are reporting student behavior, declined attention, rising anxiety, constant distraction, and many now say classroom management has replaced instruction as their primary job,” said Byrnes. “That’s why they’re leaving.”
Byrnes explained more about the bills.
“It says that in kindergarten through 5th grade, the default tools for teachers are teachers, books, paper, and pencil, not devices,” said Byrnes. “EEG studies from Frontiers in Psychology say that writing by hand, especially in cursive, it activates the network essential for memory, language, and learning.”
Byrnes’ plan limits K–5 students to 45 minutes of daily screen use and restores paper‑based work, while Terry’s bill makes cursive instruction mandatory through fifth grade.
Below are links to track the bills.
https://house.mo.gov/BillContent.aspx?bill=HB2230&year=2026
https://legiscan.com/MO/sponsors/HB2978/2026
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