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Manitoba is the first province in Canada to enact a ban on social media and AI chatbot use by children, with a federal ban under consideration. As schools have supplied most students with their own tablets or Chromebooks, and many children bring cell phones to schools, it will be very difficult to ban social media and AI without also banning all Internet enabled devices.Canadian schools across the country would be wise to order text books, dictionaries, encyclopedias and lots of paper to prepare for a return to analog-based, research evidenced, tried and true, effective learning tools taught by human teachers. Hooray Canada! Putting child health and safety first again.

Manitoba to ban social media, AI chatbots for youth — a first in Canada | CBC News Manitoba will ban youth from using social media and AI chatbots, Premier Wab Kinew announced on Saturday. The proposed law protecting youth from the harmful effects of social media will be the first of its kind in Canada.

It’s not just cell phones we need to get out of schools, it’s all screens including Chromebook and tablets. The Internet is quite simply not safe, not an effective learning tool, and not legal (privacy infringement, data harvesting, etc.). Children are at school to learn not be entertained. Ed Tech and AI are preventing children from thinking, resulting in brain shrinking. This is the first generation of children who will grow up less smart than their parents were at their age. There’s something wrong and we need to fix it. Ask your schools to opt out your children from screens.

Anti-Chromebook movement sweeping schools - The Boston Globe The movement comes more than a decade into a nationwide achievement decline — one which predates the pandemic, but not school-issued laptops.

Great article in the New Yorker regarding how to get AI out of schools. Kids don’t need it and there is plenty of research showing that not thinking causes brain shrinking. AI is rather a oxymoron. Don’t you think?

What Will It Take to Get A.I. Out of Schools? “I find myself speaking with my kids about A.I. in the same terms that we might discuss a creepy neighbor who lives down the block,” Jessica Winter writes. Read her report on the push for A.I. in education.

It’s important to understand that many organizations who seemingly are there to advise us regarding a edtech safety, are sponsored by the technology industry, thus creating significant conflict of interest. Check it out.

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This is a great article for parents by the BBC talking about the whys and hows of reducing screentime in children. This article cites important research showing that by age 5 years, 95% of their brain is hardwired. When children are born, all of the neuronal tracks are in place to all areas of the brain (think of a roadmap, all the big roads are built). What happens after birth, in relation to environmental stimuli or lack thereof, two brain maturation processes happen: neuronal proliferation and neuronal pruning. Proliferation is the formation of small connections between neurons for the purpose of efficiency. Pruning is the atrophy or death of neuronal connections. By death, 2/3 of the brains neurons will be pruned, and again the pruning happens in relation to the environment. Children’s brains who overuse screens at early ages show cortical thinning, and atrophy of neuronal tracks to the frontal lobes. Use it or you lose it is applicable to brain development. Mindless screen content results in less brain. Mindless content includes AI, edtech, cartoons, YouTube, video games, social media, p**n, most movies etc. If the brain does not have to think, then it shrinks.

What screens really do to your child’s brain development | BBC News New government guidance says children in England under the age of five should be limited to one hour of screen time a day, while under-twos should not be wat...

Article written by Josh Golin from Fairplay published in JAMA Pediatrics reviews research showing negative impact of cell phones in schools. Please email me at [email protected] for a pdf of this article. This would be great to hand out to teachers, principles, school boards, and superintendents if you are trying to get cell phones out of schools.

Phone-Free Schools to Protect Adolescents This Viewpoint discusses the academic and mental health benefits of all-day cell phone bans in schools.

For government – read about what’s happening in the US regarding hurdles faced by privacy and right to free speech when trying to pass bills to protect children.

Multiple bills highlight challenge protecting children online - UPI.com Lawmakers are considering more than a dozen bill proposals to protect children online with many carrying speech and privacy challenges.

Parents – are you concerned about the overuse of screentime in schools? Read this OpEd article in the Washington Post about how you can opt out your child from screens at school. You do have a say in your child’s education, or lack thereof.

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Over 250 doctors and child development experts call for a five-year moratorium on AI in schools sighting lack of research showing any positive benefits and a plethora of research showing negative effects.

Exclusive: Doctors and education experts who studied AI’s impact on the young call for a 5-year moratorium in schools “If a local children’s hospital told parents, ‘We’ve got this new drug, it has potential, just trust us,’ people would be horrified.”