Liz Repking featured in Washington Times article: Officials increasingly ban students’ cellphones in K-12 schools, reversing trend

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The Washington Times – Tuesday, July 16, 2024, by Sean Salai

Worried parents have been keen to send their children to school with cellphones ever since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and mass shootings ushered in the new millennium. Now, public officials complain that students are using smartphones more for cyberbullying, video games and pornography than for talking or texting with Mom.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, has become the latest public official to crack down on what she considers to be digital distractions from learning. Kicking off a statewide “listening tour,” she promised this month to introduce a bill to ban smartphones in schools.

“The status quo is not working for our children in particular,” Ms. Hochul said during an appearance at Guilderland High School, a short drive from the state Capitol in Albany. “And I want to make sure we continue to incorporate community feedback.”

Liz Repking of Cyber Safety Consulting, an Illinois-based company that works with schools to develop internet safety policies, said she sees no legitimate reason for K-8 students to have smartphones at school and little cause for high school students to have the devices.

“My experience in the past school year is that the disruption to learning in the classroom is becoming insurmountable, especially for the most dedicated teachers,” Ms. Repking said.

She endorsed a growing school trend of locking personal phones in pouches that can be accessed only before school, after dismissal or in emergencies requiring parental contact.

“Without question, the most effective approach is a complete ban on phones from entry to exit to the school,” Ms. Repking said. “This also means that students will not have access during passing periods, lunch and recess.”

Over the past year, several states and large urban school districts have abruptly reversed course. They cited a surge of student anxiety, depression and misbehavior, including drug dealing and posting embarrassing videos of teachers online. Test scores have declined, they said, and faculty are too overwhelmed to police cellphone use.

Most schools still allow approved tablets or laptops for some lessons, especially in math and sciences.

New Podcast Episode!

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Liz was recently featured on the Safety Is Sexy podcast discussing how to help young people get safe and savvy online. “Thanks for the opportunity to express our thoughts on ‘Sexy Online Safety” 😊 (Don’t worry – the podcast is rated G!)”, says Liz. Listen and learn all about a myriad of topics from what Cyber Safety Consulting is seeing in school to tips for the summer to avoid fights at home over screen time and how to support young people in building healthy digital habits.

 

Cyber Safety in the News

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Worried About Your Tween’s Screen Time? Check Your Own, New Study Says.

The Washington Post, June 17, 2024

For families who want to keep their tween children from spending too much time in front of screens, a new study offers illuminating advice: Parents, you’ll need to put your phones down first.

The study, published this month in the journal Pediatric Research, examined the links between parenting strategies involving digital media and early adolescent screen use. Among the most striking findings: Parental screen use was strongly associated with higher adolescent screen time and problematic social media or video game use. Parents should be pleased to know that being present and available to their children, without a phone in their hand, can really make a difference.

We agree that the best approach is to have a clear family plan for media use, with understood guidelines and an open line of communication as both parents and children navigate our screen-saturated reality.

 

Surgeon General Wants Tobacco-Style Warning Applied To Social Media Platforms

NBC News, June 17, 2024

In a recent op-ed, Dr. Vivek Murthy said immediate action is needed to protect young people from the potential mental health harms of social media. He said his vision of the warning includes language that would alert users to the potential mental health harms of the websites and apps.

“When adolescents spend more than three hours a day on social media, we’re seeing an association with a doubling of risk of anxiety and depression symptoms,” he said.

The American Psychological Association says teenagers spend nearly five hours every day on top platforms such as YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. In a 2019 study, the association found the proportion of young adults with suicidal thoughts or other suicide-related outcomes increased 47% from 2008 to 2017, when social media use among that age group soared.

We agree with Dr. Murthy that steps can be taken by parents, social media companies, and others to mitigate the risks, ensure a safer experience online and protect children from possible harm. Education really is key!

 

Los Angeles School District Bans Use Of Cellphones and Social Media By Students

USA Today, June 18, 2024

Over 429,000 students in the nation’s second-largest school district will be prohibited from using cellphones and social media platforms during the school day. The Los Angeles Unified School District’s Board of Education voted 5-2, approving a resolution to develop within 120 days a policy that bans student use of cellphones and social media platforms during the entire school day. The policy, which will be implemented districtwide, will go into effect by January 2025.

The move is an attempt by educators to curb classroom distractions and protect students’ mental health. K-12 teachers in the U.S. have increasingly faced challenges over students’ cellphone use with one-third saying phone distraction is a “major problem in their classroom,” according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in fall 2023.

California Governor Gavin Newsom expressed his support for efforts to restrict cellphone use in schools across the state. Newsom previously signed legislation in 2019 that allowed, but did not require, districts to limit or ban smartphone use at schools. Many people think that this decision will benefit the students and it will be interesting to see if any other large school districts follow suit.

 

Instagram Recommends Sexual Videos To Accounts For 13-Year-Olds, Tests Show

The Wall Street Journal, June 20, 2024

Instagram regularly recommends sexual videos to accounts for teenagers that appear interested in racy content and does so within minutes of when they first log in, according to tests by The Wall Street Journal and an academic researcher.

The tests, run over seven months ending in June, show that the social-media service has continued pushing adult-oriented content to minors after parent company Meta said in January that it was giving teens a more age-appropriate experience by restricting what it calls sensitive content including sexually suggestive material.

It is important for parents to check in on what their child is experiencing on social media sites like Instagram. We hear from parents who are shocked at the content that is found on their child’s device. More often than not, it is not what is shared amongst friends/followers that is concerning, but rather what the platform is feeding to minors.

 

New York Governor Hochul Signs Legislation Aimed At Protecting Kids Online

ABC News, June 20, 2024

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has signed legislation that would allow parents to block their children from getting social media posts suggested by a platform’s algorithm, a move to limit feeds that critics argue are addictive. Under the legislation, feeds on apps like TikTok and Instagram would be limited for people under age 18 to posts from accounts they follow, rather than content suggested by an automated algorithm. It would also block platforms from sending minors notifications on suggested posts between midnight and 6 a.m.

Both provisions could be turned off if a minor gets what the bill defines as “verifiable parental consent.” This bill would go a long way to protect New York minors from suggested content and links on their social media accounts and could be eventually adopted nationwide.

 

Chrissy Teigen Shares Why She’s ‘All For Technology’ As A Parenting Resource: ‘Wonderful Addition’

People, June 24, 2024

Between the family’s downtime at home and their jam-packed traveling schedule, Teigen, 38, and her husband John Legend, 45, explain in this article how they tap into tech to keep the kids busy. “We do a lot of learning apps for them that we think are great,” she tells PEOPLE, adding that her daughter Luna, 8, is learning Spanish on Duolingo on her iPad. “We’re finding it to be a really wonderful addition to the other things she gets to do. And yeah, it’s technology, but it’s really wonderful for her.”

Teigen also says that her son Miles’ current interest in the online game Roblox provides a way for the mother-son duo to connect. In a world where the news about online technology for kids can often be daunting, Tiegen shares the upsides of her children’s use and how it has benefited them as a family.