As part of her legislative agenda, Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, alongside Senator Julian Cyr, Representative Alice Hanlon Peisch and Representative Kate Lipper-Garabedian have introduced the STUDY Act, SD654/HD3070 An Act promoting Safe Technology Use and Distraction-free education for Youth. The bill seeks to implement a “bell-to-bell" restriction on access to cell phones and personal electronic devices during school hours to improve the overall learning environment and school culture. It also proposes standards for social media companies that encourage safe and responsible use.
“The STUDY Act puts students and their mental health first. By restricting cellphones during the school day and raising the bar for social media companies, we are taking bold steps to create learning environments free from distraction and a digital landscape that prioritizes the well-being of our youth. This bill is a commitment to both education and mental health for our young people, ensuring they have the tools to succeed without unnecessary harm,” said AG Campbell.
As a growing number of schools adopt policies to restrict cell phone use during the school day, the STUDY Act would require all public schools to have formal policies regarding the use of cell phones, tablets, and other personal electronic devices on school grounds and at school-sponsored activities. Each policy must prevent students from physically accessing their personal electronic devices during school hours. Exemptions to the policy would be provided in certain circumstances, such as to accommodate a student’s needs as provided by their individualized education program or health plan.
The STUDY Act also requires schools to have a policy educating students about the social, emotional and physical harms of social media use. Research, including evidence described by the U.S. Surgeon General, has shown the negative impact of social media use on mental health. For example, after one hour of social media use per day, adolescent mental health steeply declines and decreases in happiness and self-esteem occur, alongside increases in self-harm, depression and behavioral changes.
Phone use in schools can lead to distractions in learning, shortened attention span, increased anxiety, negative peer interactions and increases in cyberbullying, harassment and hate incidents. In fact, 72% of high school teachers cite cell phone use as a major problem in classrooms.
Recognizing that social media companies have an immense responsibility to keep users safe, the bill calls on the companies to implement procedures including but not limited to:
- Age verification system to determine whether a user meets age requirements under law and keep any information about a user’s age confidential from third-party use
- Default settings for a minor user to ensure privacy and limit prolonged engagement by disabling features like notifications between certain hours, autoplay, and continuous scrolling
- Features for a user to flag unwanted or harmful content and regular surveys for the user to indicate to the company that they don’t want this type of content on their feed
- Regular warnings from social media platforms to the user on the negative effects of social media use on social, emotional and physical health
As part of her 2025-2026 legislative agenda, AG Campbell has also reaffirmed her efforts to protect residents from the unfair and deceptive practices of competitive electric suppliers by once again partnering with Senator Brendan Crighton, Representative Frank Moran, and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu in support of SD1545/HD2530 An Act relative to electric ratepayer protections, a bill that would bar this predatory industry from enrolling new residential costumers. According to the Office's new 2025 report, consumers lost approximately $73.7 million through competitive electric supply contracts between July 2023 and June 2024 for a total of $651.3 million lost over the nine years studied by the Office. The Office’s analysis has found that low-income residents and residents in communities of color are disproportionately harmed by this industry.
The Attorney General also co-sponsored the following bills:
- SD1525/HD2920, An Act relative to combating hate in the Commonwealth, filed by Representative Tram Nguyen and Senator Adam Gomez, would address the increase in hate incidents throughout the state by strengthening our civil rights laws and enforcement tools and providing additional protections for victims of hate and bias.
- SD615/HD2886 An Act relative to the victim compensation program, filed by Representative Kathleen LaNatra and Senator Cynthia Stone Creem, would move the victim compensation program to the Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance such that survivors of crime can access both compensation and services under one umbrella, survivor-centered organization.
- SD1648/HD2938, An Act modernizing protections for consumers in automobile transactions, filed by Representative Carlos González and Senator Paul Feeney, would modernize state laws around used vehicle purchases and would ensure that consumers are better able to access valuable safeguards under the state’s Lemon Law and Used Vehicle Warranty law.
- SD1209/HD2405, An Act relative to fairness in debt collection, filed by Representative Tram Nguyen, Representative Christine Barber, and Senator Jamie Eldridge, would reform the state’s debt collection laws by improving protections for consumers in debt collection actions and protecting our most vulnerable consumers from predatory debt collection practices.
Original source can be found here.