Ban TikTok in school? Get rid of phones instead

In response to the inordinate amount of time young Americans spend online, a bipartisan group of lawmakers is pushing to curb students’ access to social media sites while at school. The goal of keeping students off TikTok during the school day is undoubtedly worthwhile, but policymakers would be better off taking a simpler and more effective approach: banning mobile phones from schools altogether.

It’s by now indisputable that allowing kids to have phones in the classroom harms academic performance — even among those who don’t actually use them. Excessive smartphone and social media use have also been linked to rising rates of teenage depression, emotional distress and self-harm. Three-quarters of U.S. public schools claim to prohibit “nonacademic” use of mobile phones during class, but enforcement remains weak. A recent survey found that 97 percent of U.S. adolescents used their phones at school, with most of it spent on social media, YouTube and gaming platforms.

The problem has finally spurred some in Congress to act. A bill introduced by Texas Senator Ted Cruz would require districts receiving funds through the federal E-Rate program, which subsidizes the cost of broadband connections, to block access to social media platforms over their Wi-Fi networks, just as they already must do for pornography. They’d also have to disclose how much classroom time is spent on screens. Districts that fail to comply would face the loss of federal subsidies — a powerful incentive for schools in high-poverty areas, which rely on E-Rate to cover up to 90 percent of their internet costs.

Cruz and his cosponsors, Republicans Ted Budd and Shelley Moore Capito and Democrat John Fetterman, deserve credit for trying to prevent taxpayer money from further enabling teens’ social media use — especially in the wake of the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to allow districts to use E-Rate funds to subsidize Wi-Fi on school buses.