Hello Friends!
This newsletter marks our 12th OR Unplugged newsletter!
One whole year of events, personal picks, legislative updates, and how-tos.
From 3 people to 4 to now our team of 6 behind the scenes and 25 coalitions statewide - it’s amazing what can happen in a year.
We’ve met so many of you virtually and IRL (in real life), we’ve showed up for each other at school board meetings, down in Salem for legislative days, and on more Zoom calls than we can count.
It is because of all of you that this work is possible.
And for that, we are so grateful.
We cannot wait to see what the next year holds for OR Unplugged and for our communities. Even though this work is hard, it is a pleasure to get to do it together.
We still have a few events left before the end of the year so we hope to see you all a bit more before 2027 rolls through.
Come rally with us in front of Google's Portland office TODAY!
We have had enough of tech companies making harmful and dangerous decisions about what and how kids learn in public schools.
Join us on Wednesday, November 18th at 6pm PT for a webinar with Classroom Tech Transparency Project's Joanna Houston!
Come explore how to use her self-made tool to see what your child is watching on YouTube using their school-provided device like a Chromebook or an iPad.
Find out more and RSVP here.
Just in time for holiday gift giving, come check out safer tech for the kids and teens in your life!
From minimal phones to thoughtfully designed tablets - Come browse tables of alternative devices and learn how our kids can go back to using technology as a tool.
We’ll also have a raffle running that you won’t want to miss, come put your name in the hat!
Find more info here, and if you’d like to be a volunteer at this event, email us at hello@orunplugged.org
It’s just about time for legislative days yet again!
Join OR Unplugged and Salem Big Tech Harms on November 30th for a day of connection, change-making, and collective action! Featuring presentations by OR Unplugged, Mindful Media, and other experts and informational booths from OR Unplugged, Oregon Youth Fund IRL and more!
We have Hearing Room 40 reserved all day for talks and presentations and will be taking over the capitol steps at 12pm.
Want to find a carpool? Email us at hello@orunplugged.org and we can help you find a ride to Salem!
Thank you to all our coalitions who came to our talk with Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath last Monday - we know this time of year can be particularly hectic and so it was wonderful to see folks from our coalitions in Lake Oswego, Salem, Beaverton, Portland, Tigard, and North Clackamas!
You can find more about our coalitions and check out our map here.
Lake Oswego -
Lake Oswego Parents for Responsible Technology (LOPRT) has done some wonderful work striving to safeguard student focus, data privacy, mental health, and independent learning from Big Tech’s Generative AI push. Additionally, with Google’s announcement that they will rescind schools’ ability to search if they opt-out of AI, LOPRT’s Dominique Alepin Johnson made her voice heard in a new Wired article: Google Is Forcing AI Overviews in Classrooms. Schools Are Searching for a Way Out! It is so amazing to see ripples happening nationally (and it’s even cooler when the ripple is starting in Lake Oswego).
Tigard/Tualatin -
Speaking of national ripples, Lindsey Voorhees (parent, educator, and member of the TTSD Safe Tech Coalition) and Crystal Weston (TTSD school board member) had their national news debut on Good Morning America to talk about Google’s announcement on AI in schools. This dynamic duo has done SO MUCH, working tirelessly on task force all summer and getting traction step-by-step with the rest of the school board and superintendent. This may be their first national news spot but it certainly will not be their last.
Beaverton -
Schools Beyond Screens Beaverton went above and beyond at Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath’s talk and gets the prize for most attendees from their district! We are so grateful to them for all of their work ahead of the event and for coming out in numbers. We have to especially shout-out BSD’s coalition leads - Marne, Libby, and Nataliya - your marketing insights were invaluable in the lead up to the event, thank you all so much!
Portland -
Schools Beyond Screens Portland continues to meet with the Portland Association of Teachers, PPS Technology team, and ODE to understand assessment requirements. They have also been meeting with the School Board Policy team to develop a digital device and screen policy across PPS. You can check out their proposed draft here. The next PPS policy meeting is Monday, November 16th from 4:30-6pm at 501 N. Dixon Street, Portland, OR 97227. Show up to support SBS PDX and the work they are doing for kids in PPS (and wear yellow so you’re easy to spot)!
Kathy’s Pick: Hooked on YouTube by Tyler Kingkade
Kathy Says - I know as a parent I trusted that my kids’ schools had safety features in place. When it comes to your kid’s tablet at school, many parents and educators don’t exactly know what their kids are doing online. Kids are very good at getting around firewalls. This article is illuminating about how often kids are sneaking time on YouTube on their school devices. One 7th grader watched over 80 YouTube shorts in one 90-minute woodworking class.
The Classroom Tech Transparency Project has built a support tool for YOU to know “what’s up” (at least with YouTube). With your child’s school login information, you can download their YouTube watch history and see how much they have been watching on school time. It is staggering to see and can be a real kick in the pants for schools to take action.
We have a webinar coming up on how to use this program by one of the co-founders of the Classroom Tech Transparency Project, Joanna Houston, on Nov. 18th at 6pm. Come ready with questions, hiccups in the process, and your child’s school log-in information. If you already downloaded your child’s YouTube history, what did you find? If you shared it with your school, what happened?
Jody’s Picks: The Only “AI Policy” Schools Need by Emily Cherkin and Google Won’t Give Schools The One Thing They Want by Will Oremus
Jody Says - There has been a lot of news about AI in schools this month. On Election Day, Google notified U.S. school districts using Google Chromebooks that if they opt out of AI tools, Google will also cut access to Google Search as well. This comes after Google quietly uploaded AI mode and AI search on student facing devices during Christmas break of 2025 without notifying schools, teachers or families. These allow kids access to Gemini. Generative AI chat bots like Gemini are a known hazard to children, often instructing them on inappropriate matters, such as, for example, committing self-harm, encouraging violence, initiating romantic attachments or instructing kids to hide feelings of sadness or suicidality from caring adults. Both the Brookings Institute and Common Sense Media have researched AI in education and concluded that AI use in schools creates an unacceptable risk for children, greatly outweighing the benefits.
Megan’s Pick: Sweden Education Shift: From Digital Learning to Pen and Paper from Think Academy
Megan Says - Since whole heartedly embracing technology in schools, students in Sweden have experienced the same decline in focus, learning and ability that students are experiencing in the US. After studying the decline, Sweden has ditched most of their ed-tech and gone back to textbooks, pencils and paper. Norway and Denmark are considering following a similar path. Because Scandinavia is leading the way on rethinking ed-tech, we will soon have lots of data to help with this effort here in the US. This fantastic Think Academy article explains in detail the reasons for this shift in Sweden's educational policies around screens in the classroom.
Simcha’s Pick: AI Ain't It by Sight Study
Simcha Says - This month has been ceaselessly busy. Between events, emails, and the non-stop world around us I feel like I haven’t had the chance to truly take much in. Something that I’ve kept returning to is this print by Sight Study. It reads:
AI Ain’t It.
Let me get lost in my thoughts and let me take the long way. Let me make bad art and let me mispell. Let me get bored. Let me exist in the magic of mystery. Let me sit with ambiguity. Let me not know. Let me try again and again and again. Let me fuck up. Let me get lost in the process and let me have a strike of inspiration at 3am. Let me write the worst poem you’ve ever read. Let me be slow. Let me forget. Let me ramble. Let me get lost in my thoughts and let me take the long way.
As the world seems to spin ever faster and there are increasing demands on our productivity and output, this feels like a wonderful reminder that what we’re fighting for our kids to have, is something we all deserve too. Let us learn messily, take our time, and draw our own conclusions. We don’t need AI to think for us.
Amy’s Pick: Lawsuit Blames a School-Issued Chromebook for Student’s Mental Health Crisis By Jennifer Vilcarino
Amy Says - The parents of a 13-year-old girl are suing Google. They allege that the Gemini chatbot, which she reached on her school-issued Chromebook, convinced her she had serious psychological disorders, and that adults learned of her distress only through a school monitoring alert. As pediatricians, educators, and parents, we find this story hard to read, because it could be any of our kids, using a device we were told was just for schoolwork. It’s a reminder for every district to ask whether the tools we hand students are truly serving their learning and their well-being.
This month we’re swapping our usual “How-To” section with our gift picks for the winter holidays! You can check out our staff picks below and can find the full gift guide here.
Kathy’s pick is the Yoto ($79-149 depending on model)
Yoto is the perfect toy for engaging your child into a love of creativity and stories (and eventually reading)! Whenever you need a 15 minutes break for the millions of to-do’s you have, you can pull out Yoto guilt-free. Yoto is easy for a 3-year-old to use independently and comes with stories ready to go. You can also record your own! My family even recorded reading a book we have and rang a bell to turn the page. Your child(ren) will be happily creating images in their mind as they listen to the stories. What’s not to like!
Yoto feels especially important to me as the market is flooded with AI-based chatbot toys. We hope to ban AI-based chatbot toys in Oregon soon. If you’re interested in learning more you can read Fairplay's advisory on chatbot toys and sign this petition to make change happen.
Megan’s pick is a Dungeons and Dragons starter set ($54-68 depending on the set)
I will admit I was a little skeptical when my 10-year-old son and his friends wanted to learn how to play DnD. I grew up in the 80's when DnD had a sketchy (and undeserved) reputation. My son is now almost 20, and I stand completely corrected. In fact, introducing kids to DnD is the single best way to keep them off a screen that I’ve ever encountered! DnD looks like a bunch of kids sitting around a table, or sprawled in the living room, laughing, talking and creating a story together for hours with no screen in sight. No parental nagging to get off a screen needed. Seriously! Just a group of kids (of all genders, DnD is truly for everyone), joyfully learning social skills, stretching their imaginations, being creative together, and deepening in-person connections. What I’ve been even more impressed by is that even kids who identify as gamers and have a hard time finding anything they enjoy besides video games, seem to love DnD. A DnD Starter Pack is a great introduction, or even better, visit one of your local game stores where they teach kids to play. Local to Portland are Red Castle Games, Cloud Cap Games, Paladin’s League, and Guardian Games.
Jody’s pick is a set of wooden blocks ($95 from Papa Don’s Toys)
My absolute favorite kids toy is a large set of hardwood blocks. They can be used to build endless buildings, castles and creations, are liked by kids (& adults) of all ages and genders, and they last forever. My own set are over 40 years old and heartily loved by my grandkids.
Simcha’s pick is a coupon for a connective experience together (Free!)
This is my favorite gift to give and receive even as an adult! At a time when it often feels like we are stuck “optimizing” our time and that there is so very little time to truly connect and slow down with our friends and family, a coupon for an uninterrupted afternoon together can be invaluable.
As a kid, my Aunt Darryl would give me these sorts of coupons for my birthday (often specifically for an afternoon where we would go and see a play and then go have lunch at Johnny Rockets). Find a version of this that speaks to the kids in your life! Take an afternoon and drive into the Gorge to the Maryhill Museum, spend some time together at Pittock Mansion, or grab a pair of binoculars and go birdwatching together! I promise it will be something they remember (I certainly do).
Amy’s pick is an Etch-A-Sketch ($23.95 from Thinker Toys)
I loved my Etch-A-Sketch as a kid. It came everywhere with me, and I’d sketch whatever caught my eye, then shake it clean and start again on the same reusable “canvas,” which also makes it an eco-friendlier choice. It’s a screen-free gift that encourages creativity, patience, and paying attention to the world around you.
Casper’s pick is a sketchbook (Starting at $4.53 at Blick)
My unplugged gift pick is a sketchbook. For kids of all ages, a blank book can act as a notebook, a collage and scrapbooking space, and of course a drawing pad. Regardless of any previous interest in the arts, a sketchbook can be a great gift and great activity for you to do together. Get a sketchbook for yourself and your child and challenge yourselves to draw one thing together each day. You'll be surprised how much you learn about your family based on what they chose to draw. Angry scribble monsters, a still life of something they stared at in class, characters from stories they like, faces of their friends, the sky is the limit! Drawing together can help keep you both accountable to a new shared practice, can be a great way have to have connective time, and models what unplugged downtime can look like. Sketchbooks can be great for kids of all ages and are a low-barrier entry point into a creative practice. Plus, you can bedazzle your sketchbooks together too!
Find the rest of our gift guide here.
You can also explore a lot of our gift guide picks in-person at the OR Unplugged Alternative Device Fair on Saturday, December 5th in SE Portland. Find more info here.
OR Unplugged is a non-profit organization run almost entirely by volunteers. Your donations and volunteer time support creating & distributing resources, putting on events, doing outreach, facilitating workshops, and much much more. You can help us show up for our community and build a better future for our kids. Any support is welcome and appreciated. You can donate here and learn more about OR Unplugged here.
Comments, queries, or concerns? You can reach us 24/7 (practically) at hello@orunplugged.org
Warmly and with gratitude,
the OR Unplugged team
Kathy, Jody, Megan, Simcha, Amy, & Casper
