NY Schools Banning Cell Phones? Here’s What Experts Say Will Happen

New Yorkers wary of Big Tech should learn from past “market-driven epidemics” caused by companies selling cigarettes and opioid-based painkillers.
When states confronted them with new taxes, regulations and lawsuits, industries adapted and released products that were less harmful but still addictive and caused health problems.
It is expected that technology companies will similarly seek new ways to continue selling new devices while also increasing online engagement. For example, they could capitalize on the fact that the technology is widely used in education and many jobs.

As students returned to classrooms in New York this week, authorities rushed to pass the latest state measures banning internet companies from misusing children’s personal data and using “addictive” algorithms designed to keep kids hooked on social media.

At the same time, Gov. Kathy Hochul continued her months-long campaign to drum up support for her plan to ban internet-enabled cellphones from schools by 2025, a plan that will be hotly debated when the state legislative session begins in January.

But the fight against mental health harms caused by cellphones, social media and tech companies was just beginning, experts said, comparing it to the decades-long legal and societal battles waged against Big Tobacco and opioid companies — two powerful industries that have found new ways to knowingly endanger public health while evading accountability for years.

To help parents, teachers and others understand what to expect in New York’s fight against technological threats to youth mental health, USA TODAY Network analyzed state data and interviewed leading experts who research the topic.

How is the ban on addictive social media for children enforced?

The attorney general’s office last month formally began the rulemaking process necessary to enforce the Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation for Kids (SAFE for Kids) Act, which Hochul and lawmakers passed earlier this year.

Parents, educators, advocates and others seeking to influence the rulemaking can submit comments through Sept. 30 via the agency’s email address, [email protected]. They have the same deadline for comments on the Child Data Protection Act rules, via email to [email protected].

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The measures will take effect 180 days after enforcement details are finalized.

Companies would face fines of up to $5,000 for each violation of New York’s youth data privacy and addictive algorithm bans. Parents and others would also have a chance to report complaints to authorities. The agency already has a hotline for social media complaints, (800) 771-7755, and an online complaint portal.

What social media and cell phone bans can learn from the tobacco and opioid wars

New Yorkers wary of Big Tech should learn from past “market-driven epidemics” caused by companies selling cigarettes and opioid-based painkillers, according to Dr. Jonathan Quick, an associate professor at the Duke Global Health Institute.

When state and federal governments came down on cigarette manufacturers with waves of new taxes, regulations and lawsuits, the industry adapted and introduced e-cigarettes, which are less harmful but still cause addiction and health problems.

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Prescription opioid manufacturers used the same Big Tobacco playbook to deflect early blame for the addiction epidemic. Their market realignment included new, shatter-resistant painkillers that eliminated the most egregious abuse but remained addictive.

By the time authorities fully cracked down on the manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies of painkillers that fueled the epidemic, Quick noted, the addiction crisis had already transformed. Drug cartels were flooding the U.S. with illicit heroin and fentanyl to feed the addictions of millions of Americans who were initially hooked on prescription painkillers.

What’s the next step in reducing the harm technology does to young people?

Social media and tech giants have deployed a tried-and-true business strategy to slow, deflect and diminish efforts to address the role of their products in the country’s growing mental health crisis, experts say.

And with the rise of social media and smartphones over the past two decades, said Duke University professor Philip Napoli, “it’s in some ways surprising that it’s taken this long” for state and federal lawmakers to take action to protect data privacy and young people’s mental health.

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Companies are now spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in New York lobbying to influence those who will draft new laws and regulations aimed at addressing the harmful effects of the Internet and social media.

But heavy opposition from the tech industry would have dangerously negative public relations implications, Napoli said, given the broad bipartisan support for the initiative.

“It may not be the best approach to oppose this in a blanket way,” he said.

Instead, expect tech companies to look for new ways to keep selling new devices while also increasing social media engagement. For example, they can capitalize on the fact that devices are widely used in education and many jobs.

“There’s a ton of money in this and in social media. Big Tech has done the same thing everyone else has done,” Quick said, referring to the way Big Tobacco and opioid makers have handled lawsuits and government regulation.

But the rapid rise of artificial intelligence and the overall breakneck pace of technological breakthroughs, he added, only increases the pressure to effectively regulate the social media and tech industries.

“We used to say that major societal changes take three decades, but we don’t have that time anymore,” he said.

David Robinson is the New York State Team health care reporter for the USA TODAY Network. His more than 15-year career as an investigative journalist includes awards for reporting on the opioid epidemic, abuse in hospitals and nursing homes, health care disparities, COVID-19 and emergency response failures.