Recent National Assessment of Educational Progress scores show a decline in academic proficiency among high-school seniors, with only 22% proficient in math and 35% in reading. Experts, including Harvard's Martin West and psychologist Jean Twenge, suggest that digital devices and social media are major distractions contributing to this decline, but some researchers, such as Daniel Willingham and Marilyn Campbell, question the strength of the evidence linking phone use to poor academic performance, noting potential unintended consequences of such bans.

As generative AI becomes more capable of coding, students are questioning the value of learning to code. However, experts like Philip Colligan of the Raspberry Pi Foundation and Hadi Partovi of Code.org emphasize the importance of foundational computer science skills for navigating an AI-powered world.

The Mobile Museum of Tolerance is touring Central Illinois, with a recent stop at Olympia High School. The museum offers an interactive digital literacy program that helps students understand and discuss the concept of tolerance in modern society.

The National Research Platform, a pilot program that is federally funded, aims to democratize access to AI computing in higher education by pooling infrastructure across institutions. The program, which has onboarded more than 50 colleges and 84 geographic sites since its launch in March 2023, operates the Nautilus Hypercluster. This distributed computing system leverages servers and GPUs from participating institutions.

A survey involving nearly 2 million participants in 163 countries found that owning a smartphone before age 13 was associated with poorer mental health outcomes in young adulthood. The study, published in the International Journal of Psychiatric Research and Practice, found that those who received a smartphone at age 12 or younger had lower scores on the Mind Health Quotient, with early access to social media explaining about 40% of the association.

The US and China have reached a framework agreement to transfer TikTok to US-controlled ownership, with final confirmation expected during a call between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping. Details of the deal remain unclear, but it aims to address US national security concerns while preserving TikTok's cultural elements.