1. "No More YouTube!"
New York City is pushing to ban YouTube in schools. Sharing a brief personal story, my child attended a kindergarten facility here that is housed in the same building as an elementary school, right before starting what would be equivalent to our kindergarten or elementary school. One day, the school sent home an iPad. I was quite surprised and wondered if things were a bit different in the United States. But after a while, I also noticed children gathering to play games on those devices, and teachers turning on YouTube in the classroom after lessons ended. A parent who went to school with my child expressed a sense of profound disillusionment, sharing that they had never allowed their child to watch TV or turn on YouTube at home, only to see those boundaries break down upon 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 full web searching was possible via YouTube. There were no search blocking features for guns, adult material, or inappropriate content, and learning devices even had games pre-installed that children could play simply by agreeing. Parents who shared these concerns raised their voices, and related civic groups and the New York City Council began looking into the issue.

2. When Did Digital Devices Become Mainstream?
Let us trace the fundamental reasons why digital devices have become so widespread and commonly used in schools, and why this is turning into a serious problem. Well, it all started with COVID-19. Everyone probably remembers. When schools shut down during the pandemic and worries grew over children's education, so-called remote learning emerged. Classes were conducted through screens instead of face-to-face. But this sparked another issue. Concerns were raised that underfunded regions or financially struggling households might lack computers or digital devices, creating an educational gap compared to students who had them. This served as a turning point for the explosive introduction of digital devices into schools, where lessons began to be 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 devices once brought in to aid student learning are now eating away at academic capacity.

[Eric Dinowitz / New York City Council Member: Even after children returned to in-person learning, the screens stayed. So instead of sitting across desks and facing each other, children were looking down at screens.]

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

3. Why is New York Drawing the Line?
As mentioned, amid mounting frustration from parents and teachers, New York City—the largest school district in the United States with about 1 million students—has stepped up in earnest. It began with an announcement early this month by New York City Mayor Mamdani regarding a one-year ban on generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini in elementary and middle school classrooms.

[Zohran Mamdani / Mayor of New York (Sept. 2): Under no circumstances will AI ever replace the relationship between teachers and students.]

Yet it did not stop there, as the New York City Council demanded even stronger measures. Although AI has been blocked, YouTube and gamified educational apps remain, prompting the council to pressure the Department of Education to issue a robust administrative order prohibiting their use. Furthermore, they argued for halting computer-based exams to return to paper, and even suggested stopping the distribution of 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. This is why government regulation is needed.]

The person you see on screen right now is New York City Council Member Shekar Krishnan, chair of the Committee on Oversight and Investigations and a key figure driving this policy. To briefly introduce him, he is the first Indian-American elected to the city council in New York City's history. He is also a father of two young children and frequently appears in local media. The role of City Council Oversight and Investigations Chair holds considerable power. It is a standing committee under the city council tasked with monitoring whether the city department of education is properly executing policies and pointing out issues. While it is equivalent to a local municipal council, the weight of the position differs given that this is New York, USA. The education budget of New York City alone nearly matches the entire budget of Seoul. Since this committee cannot enact laws or issue direct executive orders, it instead held a hearing to gather broader public sentiment. Department of Education officials were called into the hearing to pressure them into issuing a powerful internal administrative order uniformly applicable to all schools across the city. The hearing was broadcast live online, running quite long from daytime until late evening local time.

4. Can't We Just Stop Using Digital Devices?
This raises a curiosity: wouldn't it be simple enough to just stop using digital devices? Since living costs money anyway, stopping their use and returning to paper books shouldn't require a massive budget, so why isn't the education department doing it? Explaining the rationale during the hearing, education officials stated that digital devices have already integrated too deeply into school environments. Practically speaking, homework submissions, administrative processing, and standardized testing are already conducted online, meaning a complete overhaul could cause massive disruption in schools. There are also observations that existing contracts signed with edtech companies like Google could create complications if terminated. This is how the related discussions have evolved, and the issue remains ongoing. People within the U.S. are watching with keen interest how the landscape of New York classrooms will transform moving forward. A recent MIT report pointed out that due to high student reliance on artificial intelligence, learners quickly turn to AI at the slightest difficulty and abandon the process of independent thinking, falling under the illusion that they are studying and learning. It makes one frequently reflect on how technology created to enrich humans is increasingly turning into a threatening presence.

(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)