LEXINGTON, Ky. ( FOX 56 ) — Social media has become a normal part of everyday life, around long enough that researchers are finding out more about the long-term impact on youth. Kentucky lawmakers are taking a closer look too, as some schools move to get phones out of the classroom.
“We believe that this has really been a catastrophic failure, and we need to bring an end to this phone-based childhood and try to restore to play-based childhood. And one of the best ways to do this is at an institutional level, especially in schools,” Zack Rausch told lawmakers on the Interim Joint Committee on Education Friday.
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As Kentucky lawmakers look ahead to 2025, stagnating school performance is a one of the top problems they want to tackle. Sure, the COVID-19 pandemic is one easy thing to blame, but Rausch, an associate research scientist at New York University’s Stern School of Business, said declining trends nationwide can be traced as far back as 2012, just as social media was taking off.