Amid ongoing discussion in this province about violence in schools and children accessing porn in the classroom on their phones, four school boards in Ontario are now suing some of the social media giants for disrupting student learning.
Ontario’s four largest school boards, representing Toronto, Peel and Ottawa-Carleton, argue that platforms like Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok are designed for compulsive use and are rewiring the way students think, behave and learn.
The boards say schools and teachers are “unfairly bearing the brunt of the learning and mental health epidemic caused by the alleged negligent conduct of social media companies.”
The boards claim that the influence of social media on students cannot be denied and is leading to “pervasive problems” like distraction, social withdrawal, cyberbullying, mental health challenges and “a rapid escalation of aggression.”
The President of the NL Teachers’ Association, Trent Langdon, this week raised concerns about an increase in violent incidents in the province’s schools and sought more resources from government to address what he says are the increasingly complex issues being faced in the classroom.
Some jurisdictions have banned cell phone use in classrooms, but this province does not have a broad all-encompassing ban in place.