New York Governor Kathy Hochul convened a youth mental health roundtable Monday at Guilderland High School in Albany County.
Hochul says the session kicks off a statewide listening tour to address smartphone use in schools.
“I just met with parents, educators, local leaders, advocates, to hear from them about the challenge of cell phones in schools and how they impact our children's education," said Hochul. "And talking about ‘is this the actually the kind of environment we want to have for our children to continue to learn in?’ Two years ago, I started holding mental health listening sessions with teenagers to find out why the rates of suicide, depression, anxiety were so high for them, we came to the conclusion that addictive social media algorithms were affecting the mental health of children and teens in a significant way. In fact, the surgeon general the United States came the same conclusion. Those listening sessions here in New York led us to take on the social media companies.”
In June, the governor signed two bills to regulate social media. The bills make it illegal for social media companies to use addictive algorithms for users under 18 and prevent companies from collecting and selling children’s personal data without parental consent. Supporters of the legislation say social media apps negatively impact the mental health of young people.
Hochul cited a Pew Research poll released in June that finds 72 percent of high school teachers nationwide say that students being distracted by cell phones is a major problem in their classroom.
“The same study found that 95% of 13- to 17-year-olds have access to smartphones, and they're receiving over 250 notifications per day on average," Hochul said. "So, a couple of observations: I am the first mom governor of New York. I'm hardwired to worry about our children and their safety, of course. But it's also impossible to ignore the reality. That this generation, more than others, is being subjected to distractions that never existed the way they are now. There's a screen flashing in their face. They're experiencing FOMO, are they missing out on something at this very moment?”
Fellow-Democrat Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan says all of the evidence points to the fact that action is needed to make sure students are not distracted by cell phones.
“One of the interesting things that we talked about was this idea that somehow our kids need cell phones so that they can be safe, so that they can be connected to their parents. And really nothing could be further from the truth. Their safety, their mental health, safety, I think, is paramount. And all of the indicators are showing that cell phones, the distractions, the cyberbullying, the types of isolation that happens because of the fixation on phones, is harming our children, and it's time that we do something about it,” said Sheehan.
Another study by Common Sense Media found children between the ages of 11 and 17 are on their phones on the average of 4 1/2 hours a day.
Hochul says she’s impressed by existing policy in the Schoharie School District, which has totally banned all distractions in school.
“No earbuds, no smart watches, no smartphones and no flip phones. They started this policy two years ago. They ran into a lot of opposition, anxious parents who felt that they needed to be connected with their children throughout the day. But they brought in law enforcement, and let the parents hear from law enforcement, that if the parent's worst nightmare actually occurs that there's an active shooter on site and their children are in harm's way, something that every parent since Columbine has had in the back of their mind when they send their children off to school, that actually children are less safe in that environment when they're distracted with a cell phone in a in an incident like that, as opposed to following the leaders of the adults who are trained to know what to do,” said Hochul.
Schoharie Central School District Superintendent David Blanchard said "There's a real clear connection between what we see when students have access to their cell phones, and you know, how they react, you know, to different things that occur during the school day when they have full access to a phone. In other words, there can be anxiety producing events that kids all of a sudden see, whether they're in a classroom there, they could be exposed to a another student who's having a bad day, all things that disrupt the learning environment and do not help them to be as mentally healthy as possible while they're trying to learn."
Hochul says months of discussions with school officials are planned to establish rules and regulations for students and cell phones, and promises that as the listening tour continues she will use gathered information to shape a statewide policy proposal to be announced later this year.
