{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cruz.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/fort-worth-star-telegram-sen-cruzs-effort-to-curb-social-media-use-a-smart-bill-addressing-a-growing-problem-for-kids", "Fort Worth Star Telegram: Sen. Cruz\u2019s Effort to Curb Social Media Use a \u201cSmart Bill Addressing a Growing Problem for Kids\u201d", "2023-10-25", "2023", "2023-10", "Republican", "Senate", "TX", "Ted Cruz", "C001098", "www.cruz.senate.gov", "cruz", "https://www.cruz.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 In case you missed it, Nicole Russell of the Fort Worth Star Telegram is out with a new column in support of U.S. Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Ted Cruz\u2019s (R-Texas) recently introduced legislation to curb social media use in elementary and secondary schools. In the editorial, Russell called Sen. Cruz\u2019s Eyes on the Board Act a \u201csmart bill\u201d and a \u201cgood inroad into a growing problem that few don\u2019t take seriously enough.\u201d\n\nRead the full editorial HERE or below.\n\nSen. Ted Cruz doesn\u2019t think kids should have unfettered access to social media apps while in school. He\u2019s proposed legislation, \u201cThe Eyes on the Board Act,\u201d which would limit children\u2019s access to the sites by requiring schools that receive federal broadband funding to cut off access on networks and devices they subsidize. This is a good start, but schools really shouldn\u2019t be waiting for a guy like Cruz to force them to ban kids\u2019 social media use or else.\n\nThe bill would also require the districts to set screen time policies and guidelines in place for students limiting how much students are assigned to use electronics as part of their schoolwork.\n\nThe Texas Republican\u2019s legislation is a good inroad into a growing problem that few don\u2019t take seriously enough, least of all the kids. More studies show that kids use social media at an alarmingly high pace and that spending several hours on social media a day fails to provide a net gain. In fact, almost everything we learn suggests kids are easily addicted to social media, distracted by it in school when they should be learning and, at home, when they should be doing homework or connecting with family and friends. They\u2019re too online to see that social media makes them depressed, lonely, and anxious.\n\nExperts say over three hours of social media use is the threshold for negative effects, but a Gallup survey suggests the average teen spends up to almost 5 hours per day on social media apps and even more time on screens in general. The National Institutes of Health said that when adolescents use social media a lot, it\u2019s \u201cassociated with poor sleep quality, anxiety, depression and low self-esteem.\u201d\n\nCruz\u2019s attempt to leverage internet connectivity subsidies with social media use is smart, but honestly, it\u2019s sad this piece of legislation even exists. Presumably school districts \u2014 places of learning \u2014 can read all the surveys, research and studies for themselves. They can see, firsthand, the effects of prolonged social media use for adolescents.\n\nAll school administrators would have to do to curb rampant social media use among kids is institute a schoolwide policy that demands kids have limited to no access to their phones during school hours or can only use them during class for assignments. Emergencies are the only exceptions. After school hours, when kids need to get in touch with parents, is fine, too.\n\nMany Texas schools already have such a policy, and it\u2019s a win-win for all involved: Teachers no longer have to spend precious class time telling kids to pay attention or put their phones away, putting them at an unfair advantage with a highly addictive device. Students come to school knowing the expectations, do better in classes and spend valuable time being social and learning in-person skills. These have been dwindling with the rise of social media use among kids.\n\nSocial media, like online porn, has become ubiquitous and almost as addictive. YouTube, kids\u2019 No. 1 choice for social media apps, has almost 2.6 billion active users a month in 100 countries. Then, there\u2019s Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok and more.\n\nSometimes, when something is this powerful, it feels like parents, school administrators \u2014 and even kids \u2014 are powerless. But school administrators, teachers and parents can implement steps and guidelines to help kids learn to make better decision for themselves about their own social media use.\n\nKudos to Cruz and his co-authors for a smart bill addressing a growing problem for kids. It\u2019s too bad school administrators may finally take this seriously when it\u2019s used as leverage against internet funding. There\u2019s nothing stopping schools from implementing social media bans and screen time limits right now.\n\nBackground:\n\nLast week, Sens. Cruz, Ted Budd (R-N.C.), and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) introduced the Eyes on the Board Act to limit children's access to social media at school by requiring schools receiving federal broadband funding to prohibit access on subsidized services, devices, and networks. The senators\u2019 new legislation comes as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted last week to expand the E-Rate program to fund Wi-Fi on school buses. The proposed expansion of funding is not only unlawful (the Commission has no authority to extend support to school buses without congressional direction) but would make the federal government complicit in enabling unsupervised access to distracting and addictive social media apps like TikTok and Instagram on kids\u2019 bus rides to and from school.\n\nIn a recent editorial, the Dallas Morning News endorsed Sen. Cruz\u2019s Eyes on the Board Act as \u201cthe right policy at the right time,\u201d highlighting the growing evidence linking social media use and screen addiction with declining mental health in teens.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T00:49:26Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.cruz.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/fort-worth-star-telegram-sen-cruzs-effort-to-curb-social-media-use-a-smart-bill-addressing-a-growing-problem-for-kids"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.259590197354555, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}