Hochul pushes to ban smartphones in NY schools. Will it help address mental health crisis?
Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday revealed her push to ban students from bringing smartphones into New York schools amid ongoing efforts to address intersecting educational and youth mental health crises.
The Democratic governor has plans to introduce a bill banning schoolchildren from carrying smartphones on school grounds. She aimed to approve it during the 2025 legislative session that begins in January, which tees up politically charged debate between educators, lawmakers and major tech companies in coming months over the issue.
The governor's office has yet to release many details about the proposal, but Hochul told media outlets she would be open to allowing "flip phones" in schools that would let children text and make calls.
The comments come during an 11th-hour push by state lawmakers to ban internet companies from exploiting personal data and using addictive social media features in ways that harm youth mental health and development in New York. That effort aims to approve those two bills before the current legislative session ends in early June.
What Hochul says about smartphone ban
Each New York school district has various policies regarding smartphone use by students, Hochul said Thursday during an appearance on MSNBC. But she asserted "a majority are allowing it" in the face of parental concerns about losing the ability to connect with kids amid fears of school shootings.
"Why are young people on their devices all day long during school hours? How are they learning?," Hochul asked, addressing the smartphone ban, first reported by The Guardian.
"I'm okay if you have a flip phone," Hochul added on MSNBC, noting that allowing the outdated technology should assuage parental concerns while ensuring children aren't "in the world of social media throughout the day." It remains unclear how Hochul would propose enforcing the ban.
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What are other schools, states doing about smartphones in schools?
School smartphone bans have been debated intermittently since the devices first hit markets about two decades ago. But efforts to limit use of the devices on school grounds has gained worldwide attention in the past year, as research mounted on the harmful effects to children's education and mental health.
Guidance recommending a school cellphone ban took effect in England last fall, following examples in other European countries. Stateside, Florida last year adopted a statewide ban on cellphones during instructional time, with some districts going further and banning their use at lunch and breaks, too.
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How NY plans to stop data collection, addictive social media feeds
Hochul's comments come as lawmakers debated the current session bills, including the Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation for Kids Act, would require social media companies to restrict key addictive features on their platforms.
Currently, platforms supplement the content that users view from the accounts they follow by serving them content from accounts they do not follow or subscribe to. This content is curated using algorithms that gather and display content based on a variety of factors. However, algorithmic feeds have been shown to be addictive because they prioritize content that keeps users on the platform longer, the governor has noted.
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The other bill, called the New York Child Data Protection Act, would prohibit all online sites from collecting, using, sharing, or selling personal data of anyone under the age of 18, unless they receive informed consent or unless doing so is strictly necessary for the purpose of the website.
For users under 13, that informed consent must come from a parent. The bill authorizes the Attorney General’s Office to enforce the law and may enjoin, seek damages, or civil penalties of up to $5,000 per violation.
These two bills have been a top end-of-session priority for Hochul in recent weeks, as she aimed to overcome lobbying pushback from tech giants, including Meta, the parent company of Facebook, and Google, that have combined spent hundreds of thousands of dollars since last fall seeking to influence New York lawmakers and regulators, state records show.
USA TODAY contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: NY schools smartphones ban pushed to address mental health crisis
