Council Member Shekar Krishnan on Regulating Screen Time, Digital Devices, & Ed-Tech in NYC Schools

Now, some of these conversations have been going on 20 plus years.

You know, I mean, there was all sorts of a push to get more technology into the classroom in the early 2000s, you know, as computers were becoming more and more ubiquitous and, you know, the Gates Foundation and Microsoft and others were, you know, doing a lot of this.

I remember some major debates in New York policymaking in, you know, the early on in Andrew Cuomo's tenure as governor, you know, that were, you know, around uh some of this so you know it's interesting to sort of track how of course then the ubiquity of laptops and smartphones and then the pandemic have all you know sort of accelerated a lot of this but you know we've been having these debates a long time and it really has gone taken a various twists and turns you know a big push for ed tech with a lot of people pushing back And then a pull back on that.

And then the pandemic, I think, accelerated the push back in that direction.

So, you know, it's interesting because like we're talking about, you don't always get the continuity, you know, that where you can actually tell effectiveness.

When you say gamified apps, that's is that including all of these sort of education programs like the reading program you just mentioned, Amira, or is that a different category? Yeah.

It's all of them.

They're all.

But I think what I mean is they are under the guise of education, you know, introducing these online programs that seem fun because they're games.

And that's all good.

We are right there.

We need to have our young, especially youngest children.

And we really focused on kindergarten through five for now.

You know, it is helpful to learn math through math games or, you know, reading or vocabulary.

The problem is not only is it all can often be on the screens, it's that the way in which these apps are rewarding children for their success in the game is through alerts.

As I said before, dopamine hits, More,

more, more screens, more bells and whistles.

Exactly.

And guess what?

That's

exactly how social media apps.

Right.

Right.

And so, I mean,

it's, yeah, it strikes me because it's interesting because, and I, I've absolutely, I'm not, uh, not in the position of pushing for more screen time in school is quite the opposite, but, um, you know, it strikes me that there is value when programs are able to help identify where students are hitting some of those gaps.

Now, some of these conversations have been going on 20 plus years.

You know, I mean, there was all sorts of a push to get more technology into the classroom in the early 2000s, you know, as computers were becoming more and more ubiquitous and, you know, the Gates Foundation and Microsoft and others were, you know, doing a lot of this.

I remember some major debates in New York policymaking in, you know, the early on in Andrew Cuomo's tenure as governor, you know, that were, you know, around uh some of this so you know it's interesting to sort of track how of course then the ubiquity of laptops and smartphones and then the pandemic have all you know sort of accelerated a lot of this but you know we've been having these debates a long time and it really has gone taken a various twists and turns you know a big push for ed tech with a lot of people pushing back And then a pull back on that.

And then the pandemic, I think, accelerated the push back in that direction.

So, you know, it's interesting because like we're talking about, you don't always get the continuity, you know, that where you can actually tell effectiveness.

When you say gamified apps, that's is that including all of these sort of education programs like the reading program you just mentioned, Amira, or is that a different category? Yeah.

It's all of them.

They're all.

But I think what I mean is they are under the guise of education, you know, introducing these online programs that seem fun because they're games.

And that's all good.

We are right there.

We need to have our young, especially youngest children.

And we really focused on kindergarten through five for now.

You know, it is helpful to learn math through math games or, you know, reading or vocabulary.

The problem is not only is it all can often be on the screens, it's that the way in which these apps are rewarding children for their success in the game is through alerts.

As I said before, dopamine hits, More,

more, more screens, more bells and whistles.

Exactly.

And guess what?

That's

exactly how social media apps.

Right.

Right.

And so, I mean,

it's, yeah, it strikes me because it's interesting because, and I, I've absolutely, I'm not, uh, not in the position of pushing for more screen time in school is quite the opposite, but, um, you know, it strikes me that there is value when programs are able to help identify where students are hitting some of those gaps.