Long before Zoom, I was already losing at digital chemistry games.

I didn’t grow up in the time of online learning as such, but I do recall a certain science teacher in sixth grade who march us into a room with a projector and fire up an interactive computer-learning programme where we had to solve quizzes, and compete to get answers right. Point being: I accidentally learned chemistry in sixth grade.

But that was a different time. And now, somewhere between periods of disruption and geopolitical uncertainty, many children continue to move between physical classrooms and online learning environments, sometimes with little warning.

Yet, staring at a screen for hours is rarely easy.…