School device detox

The nation’s second-largest school system is implementing bans and time limits on school-­issued electronic devices this fall. The strict systemwide rules imposed by the Los Angeles Unified School District will affect more than 400,000 students. The ­policy bars students in early education, kindergarten, and first grade from all screen use in school. In grades 2–5, ­students are not allowed to use school-­issued devices more than 60 minutes a day, including for homework. Sixth graders and up may use devices up to two hours a day.

Baltimore City Public Schools is implementing a similar policy this fall, but with limits only affecting students in prekindergarten through second grade.

States are also curbing time on school-issued devices. In May, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law a screen time cap of 60 minutes a day for students in kindergarten through fifth grade. Meanwhile, Utah, Alabama, and Tennessee are requiring state education boards, licensed childcare facilities, and school districts to develop their own screen time policies. Similar legislative efforts in Missouri and Oklahoma failed to pass into law.

The restrictions follow the U.S. Surgeon General’s warning earlier this year that children’s excessive screen use is a public health concern.

The recess comeback

A push for longer recesses is growing nationwide. The movement has gained traction as the nonprofit Say Yes to Recess advocates for 60 minutes of play per day. Three mothers founded Say Yes to Recess last year in Tennessee, where they succeeded in getting schools to expand 10-minute recesses to 40 minutes. Twenty states now have chapters of the nonprofit.

The founders argue ­longer recesses should be available to all elementary students, regardless of good or bad behavior. Multiple studies have affirmed the necessity of play for children’s physical and mental health, says Debbie Rhea, the director of LiiNk Project, a research organization that has studied the effect of playtime and movement for more than a decade. Rhea says longer recesses improve academic performance, language development, and problem-solving skills. In 2023, the American Academy of Pediatrics reaffirmed its stance that recess betters children’s cognitive, physical, and emotional well-being. —L.L.

AI threat to degrees

According to a Gallup poll released this summer, 46% of Americans predict AI will make ­college degrees somewhat less or much less important. That’s more than double the amount of those who say AI will make degrees more important. Americans with more confidence in higher education were more likely to see AI as a boost to the usefulness of degrees, Gallup said. But a writer at The New Yorker says the future of college depends on convincing ­students there is still value to instruction and writing, without AI assistance. —L.L.