#child-smartphone-use

#child-smartphone-use

"This ban would be among the most restrictive in the entire country, helping to protect young people from harmful content and addictive algorithms that have a proven negative impact on their mental health," House Speaker Ron Mariano and House Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz said in a joint statement.

WhatsApp unveiled parent-managed accounts for pre-teens. These are currently rolling out globally, and they come with new controls to limit pre-teens' WhatsApp experience to messaging and calling. Parents will set up the pre-teen's account, and the account will be controlled by the parent, including by deciding who can contact the account and which groups they can join.

Evidence accumulated over the past twenty years indicates that the extensive social and educational introduction of computers into classrooms has resulted in a measurable decline in students' academic and cognitive abilities. These results clarify the need for pedagogical, educational, and technological resources to be aligned with principles that strengthen the universal cognitive capacities required for learning.

Most parents of high schoolers spend hours checking their kids' every move, but I didn't want a smartphone when my children were teens. Instead, I insisted they tell me their destination when they went out at night. I'd sometimes follow up with another parent for confirmation, and I'm sure my kids weren't always where they said they'd be. But they usually came home by curfew and always paid their cell bills on time.

If you track your children's location using tech, you're not alone. A 2024 survey by Pew Research Center found that one in four parents monitor their kids' whereabouts using GPS. But is that private data safe? Consumer Reports evaluated 15 popular kid-tracking devices, and here's what they found. Overall, Apple's AirTags and Apple Watches, eufy's SmartTrack Link, and Garmin's Bounce performed well when it came to privacy and data security.