00:00 "No YouTube watching!"
01:24 When did digital devices become widespread?
03:00 Why did New York step in?
05:36 Can we just stop using digital devices?

1. "No YouTube watching!"
Hello, and greetings from New York for the first time. Today's story is likely to catch the attention of parents, especially those with young children. New York City is pushing to ban YouTube watching in schools. To share a brief personal story, my child attended what is called "kinder" here—equivalent to preschool or kindergarten in Korea—which is located in the same building as an elementary school. One day, my child brought home an iPad from school. I was quite surprised and wondered, "Is the US a bit different?" But after a certain point, when I visited the school, I would see children gathering to play games on those devices, and after class, teachers would put on YouTube for them. A parent who had a child in the same school expressed a sense of dismay, sharing that they had never allowed their child to watch TV or turn on YouTube at home, only to see those rules collapse after coming to an American school. During our reporting process, we actually met a parent and examined a digital device distributed by a New York public elementary school, and found that it allowed full searches on YouTube. There were no search-blocking features for items like guns, adult material, or inappropriate content, and even games were pre-installed on the learning devices so that children could play them instantly upon agreement. Consequently, parents sharing these concerns raised their voices, and related civic groups and the New York City Council began looking into the matter.

2. When did digital devices become widespread?
Let us explore the fundamental reasons why digital devices have become so widespread and widely used in schools, and why this is turning into a serious problem. Well, it all started with COVID-19. Everyone probably remembers. When schools closed down during the pandemic and worries grew over children's classes, so-called remote learning emerged. Classes were conducted through screens instead of face-to-face. But this brought up another problem. In underdeveloped areas or financially struggling households, families might not own a computer or digital device, raising concerns about an educational gap between them and students who had access. This served as a turning point for the explosive introduction of digital devices into schools, leading to classes being conducted through them. While it was an inevitable choice during the unpredictable days of COVID-19, years later now that the pandemic has subsided, many argue that the devices once brought in to assist student learning are now eroding academic capabilities.

[Eric Dinowitz / New York City Council Member : Even after students returned to in-person learning, the screens remained. So instead of sitting across from each other at desks, children found themselves looking down at screens.]

[Julie Menin / New York City Council Speaker : Screen overuse not only hinders children's social development but is also directly linked to declining academic performance. Reading proficiency scores for grades 3 through 8 dropped by 6% compared to last year, and 3rd-grade proficiency plummeted by nearly 14%.]

3. Why did New York step in?
As mentioned, amid growing frustration from parents and teachers, New York City—the largest school district in the US with about 1 million students—has stepped up in earnest. It began with an announcement early this month by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani. The measure banned elementary and middle school classrooms from using generative AI such as ChatGPT and Gemini for a period of one year.

[Zohran Mamdani / Mayor of New York (on the 2nd) : AI in any form will never replace the relationship between teachers and students.]

However, the New York City Council demanded even stronger measures. Although AI has been blocked, educational apps in the form of YouTube or games remain, prompting them to pressure the Department of Education to issue a strong administrative order banning their use. Furthermore, they went as far as arguing to halt computer-based exams and return to paper, and to stop distributing learning digital devices to young students altogether.

[Shekar Krishnan / New York City Council Member : Corporations tell us children will fall behind without technology, selling the latest upgrades and reaping profits for billion-dollar edtech companies. That is why government regulation is necessary.]

The person you see on screen right now is Shekar Krishnan, New York City Council Member, who serves as the chair of the Committee on Oversight and Investigations and is strongly pushing for this policy. To briefly introduce him, he is the first Indian-American elected to the City Council in New York history. He is also a father of two young children and has been appearing very frequently in local media. The role of the City Council Oversight and Investigations Committee holds considerable power. It is a standing committee under the City Council that monitors whether the Department of Education is properly implementing policies and points out issues. While it is a local municipal council like ours, because it is none other than New York, US, the weight of the position is different. In terms of budget alone, New York City's educational budget nearly rivals the entire budget of Seoul. Because this committee cannot enact laws or directly issue administrative orders, they held this hearing to gather more public opinion. They summoned Department of Education officials to the hearing and pressured them to issue a strong internal administrative order applicable to all schools across the city. The hearing was broadcast live online, running quite long from Tuesday afternoon local time until late into the evening.

4. Can we just stop using digital devices?
Now, a question arises: Can we not just stop using digital devices? Since living life doesn't cost extra, and returning to paper books without using these devices might not require a massive budget, why isn't the Department of Education doing it? During the hearing, the Department of Education explained the reason, stating that digital devices have become too deeply embedded in school environments. Realistically, homework submissions, administrative tasks, and standardized tests are already conducted online, meaning that changing all of this could cause excessive chaos in schools. In addition, observations suggest that because contracts have already been signed with edtech companies like Google, terminating them could create problems. This is the trajectory of the discussions so far, and the issue remains ongoing. The landscape of New York classrooms and how it will change in the future is being watched with great interest within the United States as well. A recent MIT report stated that due to students' high reliance on artificial intelligence, they turn to AI even when facing slight difficulties, abandoning the process of thinking for themselves while falling under the illusion that they are studying and learning. It makes one frequently think about how technology created to enrich humans is turning into a threat as time goes on.

(Reported by Kim Hyunwoo | Produced by Shin Hee-suk | Video by Lee Hee-hoon | Video Editing by Ahn Jun-hyeok | Graphics by Yook Do-hyun | Produced by SBS Digital News)