The governor of new york stateKathy Hochul announced this Wednesday that she plans to ban cell phones, smart watches and tablets starting next year in public schools.
The statement was released while presenting the budget in the state House in the capital, Albany, where Hochul said that this ban, which appears to have bipartisan support, will be in force “from bell to bell”alluding to the ringing of the bell with which school days begin and end. All devices will be required to be disconnected during that time, a measure that only some schools now apply laxly.
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It is now up to each school to implement adequate spaces to store electronic devices during class hours or allow students to keep their devices turned off. Devices needed for medical reasons or communication disabilities, as well as immigrants who use them as a translation tool, will be excluded from the ban.
“Our children are finally going to be free from the constant interruptions of social media and all the pressure on mental health that comes from it,” Hochul told lawmakers. From what was heard today in the state Assembly, the plan has the support of the teachers union, Democrats and Republicans, who must vote on it on March 31.
The city of New York, which will be the main affected by the measure, had not yet decided to implement a similar measure, despite the fact that The mayor himself declared that social networks are a threat to the mental health of adolescents and in February 2024 he even sued TikTok, Meta, Snap, Google and YouTube “for fueling the national youth mental health crisis.”
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