Student cell phones and social media

Q: Why are national and state leaders so focused on it?

As a parent, I am getting no fewer than 3-5 offers daily in the mail, by email, and by text to get my kid a new device – cell phone, iPad, smart watch, etc. And I want to respond to the cell phone person who keeps texting me that buying that device may not be the best holiday gift this year. People we don’t even know (yet voted for potentially) may be soon deciding how much my kid can actually use any of those devices. In fact, you may look into getting Air Tags because those may be all that’s allowed in some schools come next school year.

So to my friends, before you get all excited about those same offers, get the scoop on how your child’s technology may be controlled by national and state laws.

Much is being said about how education, technology, and social media look different post-COVID. Most importantly, the national and state spotlight has settled in on students’ possession and use of technology.

Here’s what you need to know:

National focus

Following a FACT SHEET released in 2023, the mental health of students has been identified as a big concern and was labeled as an unprecedented crisis. There is a lot going on here: diminished attention spans, uptick in suicide ideation, data collection on our children and their privacy, impacts of AI and efforts to entice youth to become addicted to certain social media platforms.

The U.S. Department of Education is now calling on parents and schools to implement structures around student cell phone use in schools to combat reports of classroom distraction and the social media impact on student mental health. A new resource was released to help schools work with students on a youth-adult co-design approach to making these policies.

Hundreds of school districts have sued social media platforms like Instagram (IG) and TikTok in federal courts. Oklahoma state officials are discussing ways to limit distractions from cell phones and social media in the classroom. But how does this impact Oklahoma parents?

State focus – Oklahoma

In September 2024, Oklahoma Governor Stitt issued a phone-free school challenge to Oklahoma school districts. The challenge set out to allow schools to come up with their own ways to reduce classroom distractions, bullying, and learning difficulties related to cell phones and social media. I appreciate that he expressed that schools don’t need to purchase expensive pouches and phone holders with tax dollars.

His plea was to collaborate with other schools to find ways to limit these harmful effects on our students in other ways. One such way was to adopt a board policy to limit cell phone use by students during the school day. This could look like cell phones being turned off at the start of school and being off all day until school lets out. Or, students may only use phones before school, during lunch, and after school.

Not too long later, Oklahoma state legislators began holding interim studies at the State Capitol:

1. Senator Adam Pugh on cell phones in schools (IS-24-008 press release), 
2. Senator Jech on social media regulations for protecting children (IS-24-032), and
3. Representative Chad Caldwell on cell phones and social media (IS-24-053)

So far, there isn’t a proposed Oklahoma legislative bill filed on student’s personal devices. However, it is anticipated to be coming soon…

To buy the personal device or not…

That is up to you! But as with any challenge in parenting, each family, parent, and child is unique.

• If you are a parent who likes to keep tabs on where you kiddo is at any given time during the day, you may want to look at an Air Tag for a backpack or even to loop onto your kid’s clothing.
• Some schools may limit students’ wearing smart watches.
• If you want to reach your kid to communicate about pick up or after-school activities, you may want to get that phone anyway.
• Expect your kid’s personal device will be turned off most of the school day.
• You can expect schools to limit social media access at school regardless of what national and state leaders do.

I will be honest that I was very against the idea of limits on my kid’s personal device use at school. But after reviewing all of the data and research and the extent of the concerns of not just classroom distractions but data privacy collection concerns, I can see where some limits may be helpful.