I feel most of the effort in the last 2 decades to "bring technology to classrooms" has either been ineffective or even negative.

No, Chromebooks and iPads are not needed for most things, and while we all like to pretend that we are using them for "studying", most of the time spent on them is wasted time that stifles creativity. Whenever you bring it up, someone points out the example of Timmy from Grade 4 who made a beautiful digital sketch on his iPad or something, conveniently ignoring the other 99 students who basically wasted hours on the computers with no intellectual stimulation.

We probably need fewer electronics in the classroom, and even for stuff like taking notes, kids should be practising the motor skills of writing with their hands.