
Teacher praises restrictions placed on phone use in classrooms
Jonathan Buchwalter, a history teacher, observed that students were taking notes, completing assignments, asking for help, and interacting with each other more effectively.
This local success reflects a wider trend across the United States, with 33 states having enacted legislation or policies to restrict student mobile phone use in schools.
The push for these restrictions is driven by concerns over the negative impact of smartphones on students' mental health, academic performance, and attention spans.
Studies have linked problematic smartphone use to increased depression, anxiety, and insomnia in teenagers, reinforcing the rationale behind these school policies.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Expert exposes ingredients in popular makeup products that actually cause acne
There's nothing quite as exasperating as trying a wildly popular beauty product, just to find out there's secretly an ingredient in it that causes acne or clogged pores. It's even more upsetting when the viral product in question is beloved by beauty influencers who rave about the brand on social media.


The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
Here's why NASA wants your photos of hurricane damage
NASA is launching a pilot program to harness citizen science for faster hurricane disaster recovery. The space agency, in collaboration with the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program, a science and education initiative, is spearheading a new Response Mapper project. This innovative initiative will utilize photographs submitted by the public, both before and after a disaster, to track ground conditions in affected areas. Throughout the summer and fall, NASA is actively encouraging public participation in the program, especially from residents in the Southeast, the region most often devastated by tropical storms, hurricanes, and related flooding. 'Your contributions could ultimately help emergency managers make faster and better-informed decisions when it matters most and strengthen your community's ability to respond and recover from disasters,' NASA said. These time-stamped and geotagged images will be shared directly with emergency responders, complementing existing data from satellites and field reports, according to the space agency. Disaster response teams often face challenges when obtaining "clear, localized" information, especially in rural areas, NASA said. Satellite imagery offers a broad view of hazards but may overlook short-lived impacts due to factors such as cloud cover, timing of the orbit, or data processing delays. Satellites can also overlook finer details that photos taken closer to the ground could capture. 'We're exploring how citizen science can support disaster response in ways that Earth observation data alone can't,' said Kristen Okorn, a coordinator for NASA's Disasters Response Coordination System, in a statement. 'A single photo of land cover, whether it is a flooded street, fallen trees, or even an undamaged area, can offer helpful context.' Such photos can be combined with other observations to help verify the situation on the ground, determining where cleanup crews are needed or assessing other impacts such as crop losses or potential further threats to public safety. Citizens can share photos by downloading the GLOBE Observer app on their smartphones and joining the NASA Response Mappers team. The agency stresses that there is an inherent risk during hurricane season and members of the public should never put themselves in danger to take photos, particularly when collecting data in the midst of or immediately after a severe storm. Data collection is requested in areas of the south and southeast United States, including the states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, as well as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.


The Guardian
3 hours ago
- The Guardian
US health agency workers accuse RFK Jr of fueling violence against them
More than 750 current and former federal health employees on Wednesday accused the health and human services (HHS) secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, of fueling harassment and violence directed at government healthcare staff. In a letter sent to Kennedy and members of Congress, the group accuses RFK Jr of contributing to 'the harassment and violence experienced by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) staff', citing decisions such as removing members from a CDC vaccine advisory panel, questioning the safety of the measles vaccine, and firing key CDC staff as actions that sow distrust in federal medical professionals. The group says Kennedy's rhetoric played a role in the 8 August attack at the CDC's headquarters in Atlanta, where a Georgia man opened fire on four CDC buildings, firing dozens of shots and killing a police officer. Law enforcement officials said the gunman blamed a Covid-19 vaccine for making him feel depressed and suicidal. After the attack, Kennedy refused to confirm the motive of the shooter in an interview. He described political violence as 'wrong' but neither he nor Donald Trump have spoken publicly about the motive, despite law enforcement officials making clear the shooter targeted the CDC over the vaccine. The health workers are now asking Kennedy to 'cease and publicly disavow the ongoing dissemination of false and misleading claims about vaccines, infectious disease transmission, and America's public health institutions'. The workers further accused Kennedy of being 'complicit in dismantling America's public health infrastructure and endangering the nation's health by repeatedly spreading inaccurate health information'. The letter urged the HHS to 'acknowledge and affirm that CDC's work is rooted in scientific, non-partisan evidence focused on improving the health of every American' and 'ensure that the HHS workforce can carry out its duties in an environment free from imminent threats of harm'. Additionally, it asks Kennedy to take 'vigorous action' to eliminate online content that targets federal employees, including 'DEI watchlists'. The workers asked for a response from the health secretary by 2 September. In response to the Guardian's request for comment, the HHS said: 'Secretary Kennedy is standing firmly with CDC employees – both on the ground and across every center – ensuring their safety and wellbeing remain a top priority. In the wake of this heartbreaking shooting, he traveled to Atlanta to offer his support and reaffirm his deep respect, calling the CDC 'a shining star among global health agencies'.' Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion The statement continues: 'For the first time in its 70-year history, the mission of HHS is truly resonating with the American people – driven by President Trump and Secretary Kennedy's bold commitment to Make America Healthy Again. Any attempt to conflate widely supported public health reforms with the violence of a suicidal mass shooter is an attempt to politicize a tragedy.' The letter comes a day after the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) took a stance against the HHS, urging that children as young as six months and up to 23 months receive the Covid-19 vaccine, a position that diverges from the current federal guidance given by the Trump administration's health agencies. Kennedy responded to the AAP's updated guidelines on social media by accusing the organization of failing to sufficiently disclose conflicts of interest.