From Salt Lake City to New York City, parents are demanding more sway over the digital tools that schools give children.
No more YouTube or video games on school laptops. Textbooks and pencils are back. Some seventh graders say they prefer learning offline.
Tech giants, including Meta and Alphabet, are spending lavishly on splashy billboard ads, courting on-the-fence politicians and bulking up their ranks of lobbyists.
They’ve become an important way to spend time with peers. But they’ve also become more addictive.
The researcher and author Jean Twenge has a prescription for the harmful effects of screen time on children. If only parents would listen.
Rachel Accurso might be this era’s Mr. Rogers, if he were on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. Toy companies and publishers all want a piece of the action.
The app, which is popular with teenagers, introduced new settings and features aimed at addressing inappropriate online contact and content, and improving sleep for users under 18.