British parents can finally get their kids off their phones. British Columbia Premier David Eby announced Friday that the province will restrict cell phone use in public schools and take a tougher stance against social media giants that feed addictive content to children.
A cybersecurity expert says a cell phone ban in the classroom is an important measure that will reduce digital distractions and cyberbullying, while opposition critics say the measure is long overdue. “Children are facing different challenges than previous generations, and they are taking all of them into their own hands,” Eby said during a statement released in Surrey on Friday. “While cell phones, the internet and social media help us connect with each other, they also present risks that can harm children.” cell phone jammer
Citing his own conversations about cybersecurity with his nine-year-old son Ezra, Eby said school children have access to an unregulated internet that makes it impossible for parents to know what their children are doing online. Eby said important research shows that frequent cell phone distractions in the classroom, addictive social media platforms and online predators who try to take advantage of young people all pose significant risks to young people.
The province will require school boards to have a policy limiting cell phone use by the start of the next school year in September. It will be up to the school to decide how to limit cell phone use and how to accommodate students with special needs who use phones to help with learning.
“I know there are parents who want to have regular contact with their children throughout the school day for a variety of reasons,” Eby said. “That’s why it’s important for us that, at a local level, school boards engage with teachers and make sure this limit works in their local communities.”
Darren Laur, a former Victoria police officer and online safety consultant, said many B.C. schools already have cell phone policies in place and strike a balance between using phones as a learning tool and preventing them from getting in the way of learning.
Laur, who has spoken with students and school staff across B.C. about social media and digital safety, said Belmont Secondary School in Langford has the best policy he’s seen. It requires students to check their phones at the door or put them in their bags. Ontario has had a policy banning cell phones in class (except for learning activities involving them) since 2019. Quebec followed suit with a rule that came into effect this month.
BC United Leader Kevin Falcon said it has been 142 days since his party called for a ban on cellphones in schools and he is frustrated that it has taken so long for the BC NDP to introduce the common-sense policy that many teachers and parents have been asking for. Falcon, whose daughters are in Grade 8 and Grade 5, is concerned that the BC NDP policy will allow for inconsistencies across school districts.
However, he said a ban on cellphones in the classroom would help teachers as they work to keep students from scrolling through TikTok or Instagram.
The premier also took aim at social media giants like Facebook and Instagram parent Meta Platforms, which Eby said use algorithms to serve addictive and potentially harmful content to children. He announced that the NDP will introduce legislation this spring that would allow the government to sue the companies for damages. Eby said young people are being “fed an endless stream of increasingly extreme content that has been linked to rising levels of anorexia in girls and boys, increased anxiety and depression in young people, and addiction and compulsive behaviour.”
The government could use any damages received to pay for treatment and counselling programmes, and to establish monitoring systems and education programmes about the harms of using these products and services.
Eby compared potential legal action against social media companies to lawsuits the B.C. government has brought against tobacco companies and opioid manufacturers to collect damages for the devastating health consequences of their products. Previously, a multi-state coalition of 33 U.S. attorneys general sued Meta, alleging it harmed young people’s mental health and illegally accessed their data. Also attending the press conference were Prince George’s parents, Ryan Cleland and Nicola Smith, whose 12-year-old son Carson died by suicide in October after becoming a victim of online sextortion.