Why do kids even have smartphones in schools? The state is planning to ban them, allowing only dumbphones that allow calls and messaging but not the distracting apps that come with iOS and Android.
[Governor Kathy] Hochul said she would launch the bill later this year and take it up in New York's next legislative session, which begins in January 2025. If passed, schoolchildren will be allowed to carry simple phones that cannot access the internet but do have the capability to send texts, which has been a sticking point for parents. She did not offer specifics on enforcing the prohibition.
"Parents are very anxious about mass shootings in school," she said. "Parents want the ability to have some form of connection in an emergency situation."
Yes, politically this just means the relevant consumer electronics lobby didn't call whatever raise the children's welfare activists put down, but getting smartphones out of classrooms is such an unambigiously good idea. If only there were a reverse-chronological lobby!
Previously:
• New York teens have started their own anti-smart phone Luddite movement
• Elementary school offering parents dumbphones for their kids
