Over the last 15 years, our children have wrestled with a mental health epidemic all across the country. Colorado is not immune. Although there is no single cause, the combination of social media’s addictive algorithms, the effects of COVID-19, and economic and political strains have all combined to compromise our kids’ mental health. While families have the most important role to play in addressing these challenges, most Coloradans agree we can’t fight this battle for our kids’ mental health one family at a time, one kid at a time, one classroom at a time, or one school district at a time – we’re all going to have to take on this project together.
As Governor, Michael will pursue and enact the strongest online child-protection policies in the country. He will work with school districts to implement a statewide cellphone ban in our schools; partner with legislators, families, and industry to establish new protections for our children; and make Colorado the best state to grow up as a kid in the digital age, while ensuring that Colorado companies can continue to grow and innovate as our economy continues to change.
As Governor, Michael will:
Keep Cellphones Out of Classrooms: On average, America’s teenagers are on their phones at least 4.8 hours a day, or two and a half months a year. The last thing kids need is to consume precious time at school using phones for activities unrelated to their academic success. When kids at school are distracted by their own phones or by their classmates using phones, their attention spans and academic performance drop. It is unreasonable to expect teachers to implement bans one classroom at a time. Michael will work with school districts and teachers to implement a statewide ban on cellphones in classrooms.
As a former school superintendent and as a Senator, Michael has had the privilege of visiting hundreds of schools – large and small, urban and rural – and has had countless conversations with teachers, students, and families about cellphones in schools. The visits have often confirmed the emerging research that phones hurt learning, exacerbate mental health challenges, and stifle social interaction. The thoughtful cellphone limits at Cañon City High School and Mesa County Valley School District 51 are examples demonstrating that limiting cellphone use in school can help make school a healthier and happier place for kids.
Help Parents Support Their Children: As a parent of three daughters who grew up in the digital era, Michael knows how difficult it is for parents to protect their kids online – even when families make a concerted effort together. Michael will push for increased parental controls for kids under the age of 13 and ensure parents have the resources available to make informed judgments about new technologies like AI. He will also work to empower families to make the decisions that are right for their children by:
- Instituting social media warning labels that alert users to social media’s potential mental health and well-being risks to children;
- Requiring social media companies to limit or prevent notifications at nighttime;
- Strengthening periodic pop-up notifications to reduce mindless scrolling and give agency back to our children.
Ensure Artificial Intelligence is Safe for Kids: AI is a new and exciting technology that has the potential to benefit our teachers and students, but kids and parents deserve common-sense guardrails around novel chatbots and AI companions. Michael will:
- Limit companion chatbots from being provided to kids under 18 unless they have guardrails to protect against specific types of harm – like encouraging self-harm, disordered eating, illegal activity, or engaging in sexually explicit interactions;
- Require AI chatbots to flag messages from kids expressing suicidal ideation or an intention to harm others. If a child indicates that they are preparing to hurt themselves, the AI chatbot should immediately stop the conversation, provide contact information for easily accessible mental health services, and in some cases, notify parents.
Design an Online Environment That Protects Our Kids: Social media companies will often use design choices (like an infinite scroll, auto-playing videos, hyperpersonalized algorithms, and “likes” or other notifications) to keep users on longer. Michael believes our kids deserve an online environment that is designed to protect them, rather than addict them. Michael will work with stakeholders to implement effective, enforceable age-verification or age-assurance technologies that preserve kids’ privacy, allow for innovation, and protect vulnerable users. Michael will also push to institute, strengthen, and expand:
- A responsible kids’ design code for social media companies, including making children’s accounts private by default, offering non-algorithmic feeds that only display content from accounts or creators that kids choose to follow, and allowing for greater customization and control;
- Policies requiring social media companies to remove accounts engaged in the sex trafficking or sexual exploitation of minors, or that sell guns or drugs on platforms;
- Requirements for social media companies to promptly communicate with and respond to law enforcement requests;
- Targeted advertising protections for children, including by preventing social media companies from collecting data from minors for ad purposes;
- Negligence penalties for companies that should reasonably know a user is a minor.
Give Kids a Seat At The Table: Our kids need to be part of this conversation. As Governor, Michael will convene students, parents, teachers, mental health professionals, consumer advocates, and industry representatives to propose policies that make Colorado a safe and productive place to grow up in the digital era.
