WATERVILLE, MAINE, May 2025 — Thomas College professor Dr. Katie Rybakova was recently published in the Maine Policy Review for her research on screentime impacts on literacy development. The Maine Policy Review is a publication of the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center. Dr. Rybakova’s article titled “Taking Action on Screen Time: Phone-Free Classrooms and Other Steps to Improve Youth Mental Health, Attention, and Academics”, which advocates for less screen time, is about the negative effects of excess screen time on children and what can be done to combat this including school phone bans, community digital detox spaces, and more time spent outdoors.
Dr. Katie Rybakova is a professor of education and the Chair of Thomas College’s Lunder School of Education.
Dr. Rybakova also explores how this impacts the learning of children at school. For Maine specifically, students in 2024 had the lowest test scores in three decades in reading and math, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Dr. Rybakova, whose expertise is in literacy, provides some solutions to this problem.
“While we ought not to lay all the blame on technology use and excess screen time, we certainly should address, both in school and at home, the excessive amounts of time children and adolescents are spending on screens,” said Dr. Rybakova. “Technology is transformative and has the capacity to make learning effective and efficient, but the ways in which we integrate tech into our lives– particularly less screen time– are crucial for our youth’s health and literacy development. Technology needs to be used for a purpose, and unfortunately we have gotten used to using screen time without that purpose and in lieu of productive, positive, healthy habits and experiences.”
Dr. Rybakova has a bachelor’s degree in English education, a master’s in English Education and a doctoral degree in curriculum and instruction, all from Florida State University.
Dr. Rybakova has been a professor of education at Thomas College for more than seven years. She is currently the Executive Director of the Maine Association for Middle Level Education and an Associate Editor for the Educational Media International Journal. Her research focuses on screentime impacts on literacy development. She is a former middle school English teacher and a former DI athlete playing tennis who entered the FSU Athletics Hall of Fame in September 2024. Dr. Rybakova is known for her passion, energy, and commitment to students and for her innovative curriculum and approach to teaching.
Dr. Rybakova is available for interviews upon request related to this publication or topic.
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