Social Media

Several new state laws taking effect in Georgia are focused on school safety, including one requiring schools to teach about the risks of social media and put barriers on school devices to limit access to online content.

Teachers and administrators are finding it increasingly difficult to get students to focus in class, and a district-wide policy for collecting phones would avoid putting the onus on teachers to confront defiant students.

If students are on their phones too much, it has at least something to do with learning that behavior from adults. As schools ban phones, it becomes increasingly important for parents and teachers to put theirs down, too.

Legislation recently advanced by the Pennsylvania Senate Education Committee would enlist various districts to participate in a two-year pilot program to test the impact of locking up student cellphones during the day.

Some student complaints are inevitable, and schools will need parent cooperation, just as they do to counter chronic absenteeism, bullying, drug use or any other worrying student behavior.

Faculty at Fredericksburg City Public Schools in Virginia overwhelmingly say the district should make clear to students and their families that only school-issued devices will be allowed during instructional time.

Teen addiction to smartphones is as observable as the noses on their faces, and the effects are increasingly backed up by data. Schools that keep phones out of reach during class see better grades and less cyber bullying.

Recent surveys by Carroll County Public Schools in Maryland found support for banning phones throughout the school day was highest among teachers, lower among parents, and lowest among students.

Los Angeles school officials — fed up with kids distracted by social media and concerned about abuses such as cyber bullying — are poised to join a growing number of school systems across the country.

A high school biology teacher in Arizona says he will not be returning to the classroom next year, in part because he found it so draining to pour his heart into students whose attention was consumed by mobile apps.

A ninth-grade teacher at Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia saw only positives to keeping phones out of reach during class, and students themselves attested to their improved concentration and engagement.

An "away-for-the-day" policy, which required sixth-grade students to have their cellphones turned off and out of sight for the entirety of the school day, led to "less drama, less bullying and less harassment."

One bill will prohibit social media companies from providing "addictive" content feeds to minors without parent consent, and the other will prohibit websites from processing a minor's personal data without consent.

Eric Goldman, associate dean of research at Santa Clara University School of Law, assesses concerns around the impending TikTok ban or buyout. It faces significant First Amendment challenges, he said.

The San Francisco company described in a blog post how its chatbots have already been misused to post political spam and generate entire articles. It also described steps it is taking to stop these practices.

Social media platforms may be held financially liable for harm caused to California’s minors if a court finds that they knowingly offered products or design features that resulted in harm to minors.

Two bills on Internet safety and privacy for children that are now before the New York state Legislature have fierce opposition from tech companies. But Gov. Kathy Hochul said their passage is her “priority.”

State legislators have agreed on what should be done about protecting residents from artificial intelligence, and against the use of deepfakes in elections. Proposed laws taking action on each have gone to Gov. Jared Polis for his signature.