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If you have a smart phone, you know how addictive it can be.
Ten minutes of scrolling Instagram or TikTok or X turns into an hour. Or two.
We’ve all been there. And we all recognize that something needs to change — especially to protect our kids, who are watching their childhoods disappear into a screen.
Mallory McMorrow, a Michigan state Senator running for the open U.S. Senate seat this year, is trying to lead that charge for change.
“It’s hard enough for me to put my phone down — and my screen time would make most people embarrassed,” McMorrow told me in a Substack Live interview on Monday. “When your brain isn’t fully developed yet, it is that much harder. These are products that are designed to be addictive. And this is the new version of drinking and smoking and gambling.”
McMorrow’s plan, which she rolled out Monday, to protect kids from social media includes:
No cellphones in classrooms
Social media platforms would be required to have the privacy settings turned on by default for minors
Social media companies would be required to prohibit the “infinite scroll” feature for anyone under age 14
Chatbots would be banned from presenting themselves as any sort of licensed professional — including doctors and psychiatrists.
McMorrow notes that a cell phone in schools ban passed the Michigan state House and state Senate by overwhelming margins this year — and is expected to be signed into law by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Here’s McMorrow:
I got an email from a teacher who said she has been trying to put such restrictions in place in the classroom but she said this is a place where we need government because there has to be a uniform understanding of the rules of the road. Otherwise you’re the teacher in the front of the classroom saying ‘I don’t want phones allowed in my class’ but they’re going to go to the next class and they can get them back.
Yes, McMorrow is a Democrat. But this is an issue that really shouldn’t be partisan. And unless we do something about it — at the federal level — it’s only going to get worse.
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