New York should ban smartphones in schools

Americans are waking up to the damage excessive smartphone use is doing to our children. Banning smartphones in schools, as Gov. Kathy Hochul has proposed, would be a good move. It would make New York a leader in protecting children from for-profit exploitation by Big Tech, and the State Legislature should get behind it.

Responsible technology leaders should welcome it, too. Companies like Google and Facebook spent hundreds of thousands of dollars lobbying against New York child safety bills, but the dangers that phone use poses to our kids are well documented; parents are on the right side here, and Big Tech is on the wrong one.

Having built and sold a data analytics company, I know technology offers tremendous potential, but also comes with risks. As a New York City parent of two daughters, I see how much space phones take up in our children’s daily lives. We need to work together toward common solutions. And schools need to be a focus.

Pushing algorithmic content makes big money for Big Tech, but it can be distracting, demoralizing, and deadly for kids. Even the U.S. Surgeon General has sounded the alarm, calling for warning labels on social media. Two state bills passed in June are a good start. The SAFE for Kids Act will safeguard kids from algorithmic data feeds that often deliver harmful, addictive, and age-inappropriate content; the Child Data Protection Act will limit collection of personal information from kids. In Congress, the bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act has 70 sponsors in the Senate; Majority Leader Chuck Schumer should schedule a floor vote now.

There’s more to be done. In New York City, former Mayor Michael Bloomberg banned phones in schools in 2010. Mayor Bill de Blasio reversed him in 2015, but the past decade has shown increasingly that smartphones in school impair our children’s ability and stability. Mayor Eric Adams has sued five social media platforms for exacerbating a mental health crisis among our kids, and city Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan has called on parents, teachers, and kids themselves to work together to promote healthy smartphone habits.

Getting phones out of schools would help our children get more out of school. A Pew Research Center survey shows that 7 in 10 high school teachers say phone use is a “major problem” in their classrooms; the same goes for a third of middle school teachers. Studies show that absent phones, students understand lessons better, perform better on tests, and have less anxiety. Apps, especially social media, ratchet up social pressure, leading to cliquish behavior, depression, self-image problems, and cyberbullying.

Parents acknowledge the problems. So do kids. Nearly 40% of teens say they spend too much time on their phones, and a third of Gen Zers support a school phone ban.

My own family often discusses this issue. My older daughter's public high school provides phone pouches on classroom walls; some teachers require their use, others don’t. She's able to use her phone between classes and at lunch. My younger daughter's private middle school collects phones at the beginning of each school day. Both have adjusted well.

Many social problems are hard to solve. This one doesn’t have to be. Hochul, Adams, Attorney General Leticia James, district attorneys, school leaders and the Health Department are on the same side. Passing the governor’s school smartphone bill would be another step toward turning our children into confident, healthy, engaged, and well-educated citizens.

This guest essay reflects the views of Raj Goyle, a New York-based tech entrepreneur and former Kansas state lawmaker.