New York Governor Kathy Hochul met virtually with educators and officials from Broome County school districts Tuesday. The roundtable, held at Windsor High School, is one of a series of meetings Hochul is holding to discuss smartphone use and its impact on minors.
“I hope to do a lot more listening today, because that's the purpose of my tour around the state, to hear from educators and hear from school superintendents and everyone involved in the whole process of helping our young people be educated and emerge as fully functioning, thoughtful adults,” Hochul said.
She said many of the challenges teenagers and students are facing stem from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It's been really hard for our young people,” Hochul said. “And their substitute for human contact, as you all know, really became social media platforms, connecting with others, often in the darkness of their own home, basements and bedrooms, and not really connecting with people.”
After gathering feedback from schools and parents, Hochul plans to introduce statewide policies that would address the impact of social media and technology on young people, even potentially banning the use of smartphones in schools.
“Our young people are being so distracted during the classroom day, to the point where 75 percent of teachers in a survey said it has become a major problem in their classrooms,” Hochul said.
Last month, Hochul signed legislation meant to regulate social media and its impact on young people.
One bill bans social media companies from collecting and selling the personal data of minors without parental consent. Another will restrict the ways companies use addictive algorithms for underage users, though it’s still somewhat unclear how some of those new regulations will be implemented.