Opinion: Big Tech's been targeting kids at school all along

How much more evidence do we need to start protecting them? , a platform she uses to educate parents about the impact of digital media on youth. Andrew Cantarutti, a middle school teacher, writes The Walled Garden Education, a newsletter on attention, cognitive development and technology policy in K-12 schools. Every province in the country now restricts student smartphone use in some form. Quebec has gone furthest, establishing a province-wide prohibition on personal phone use from the beginning to the end of the school day, including recess and lunch. British Columbia has also imposed a province-wide legal requirement for school boards to restrict personal digital devices throughout the instructional day, but leaves considerably more discretion to individual districts and schools. As part of its Provincial Code of Conduct, Ontario has established stricter rules for younger students and more limited restrictions for students in Grades 7-12. But, as we write this, we know there are teachers in all three provinces rolling their eyes; for many schools, these policies exist on paper more than in practice. In B.C. , enforcement has been left toWhat to know about the landmark Meta lawsuit that ended in a $17-billion settlement Our students have spent the better part of 15 years negotiating life with smartphones, and the evidence of harm is no longer in question.into more than 1,400 lawsuits filed by American school districts against Meta, Snap, TikTok, and YouTube uncovered internal documents showing the platforms deliberately targeted students during school hours, including TikTok's decision to keep push notifications on through the school day against its own safety team's advice. In the classroom, capable high school students spend 45 minutes writing a single paragraph – not because they're bored or disinterested, but because their devices keep drawing their attention away. Research shows that almost a quarter of teens'In the clinic, visits for anxiety, depression, ADHD, and school refusal have noticeably risen in the past decade. Kids are chronically sleep deprived, yet the mere mention of charging their phones outside of the bedroom overnight sends them spiralling. Our kids are increasingly medicated for ADHD, and although earlier diagnosis is positive, the exacerbating role of digital distraction, which is linked toand externalizing behaviours, requires more consideration. Poor concentration is also a core symptom of generalized anxiety disorder, a diagnosis that's become pervasive among teens. With Ottawa now moving to set 16 as the minimum age for a social media account, nationwide bell-to-bell school policies are the logical extension. Quebec has taken an important first step; the rest of our provincial governments should follow suit. Restrictions on instructional time alone aren't enough. A student who's just spent lunch scrolling TikTok doesn't walk into class ready to focus. A student who's been bullied in a group chat with 50 members can't focus on even the most engaging lesson. Even where bell-to-bell policies exist, enforcement must be evenly applied across jurisdictions; when the rules shift from classroom to classroom, the fear of missing out will always win. A ministry-led audit is the obvious next step. In consultation with teachers, ministries of education could set consistent enforcement standards, invest in secure device storage and give administrators real support: ready-made policy documents and communication templates for families. All such policies canThose paying close attention might cry, 'Correlation, not causation! ' And that's fair enough, but it's beside the point. We don't wait for proof of harm before we protect children; we require proof of safety – the same bar we already demand of their medications and their food. No one has cleared that bar for the phone in a 13-year-old's pocket. We're proposing to start with phones, not end with them. Once this problem is properly addressed, questions about tablets, laptops and AI in the classroom deserve the exact same scrutiny. Many of the students we work with say they'd like to spend less time on their phones. They deserve a six-hour break during the school day. When device-free spaces become the norm, FOMO declines and so do cravings. Fifteen years of hesitation is enough.