Parental rights, Screens, and AI

Parental Rights and Technology

In recent years, “parental rights” have been in the news. This refers to things beyond custody and visitation and includes parents’ ability to shape their child’s upbringing.

Parental concerns and parental rights have been foundational in the pushback against screentime and one-to-one electronic devices in schools. Limitations on screens and devices is closely associated with Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation, which has also led to The Anxious Generation Movement.

In 2026, many different school boards and organizations are rejecting Chromebooks and other devices, lots of schools are moving toward screen-free classrooms (K-12 and college). Many different organizations are leading the way on this. For example, the Manhattan Institute has “Model Legislation to Restrict Smartphone Use in K-12 Public Schools.”

A meaningful platform for resistance to blanket AI use may well be built on the foundation of these earlier efforts to limit screentime and personal electronic devices and on the notion of parental rights.

In Vermont, legislators have proposed legislation that would allow parents to opt out of ed tech for their students.

There is a proposed “Student Tech Bill of Rights.”

Parental Rights and AI

In spring 2026, some lawmakers in Florida were working on an “AI Bill of Rights” in the state legislature, which would protect minors. You can read about the effort here. You can track the progress of the bill in the Florida senate here. (Update 4/30/26: it failed) Protection of minors is a significant part of that bill, which includes “requiring companion chatbot platforms to prohibit a minor from becoming or being an account holder unless the minor’s parent or guardian consents; requiring bot operators to periodically provide a certain notification to a user, etc.”

In April 2026, a New Yorker article by Jessica Winter asks “What will it take to get A.I. out of schools?” Parents are already concerned with the ways that AI has worked its way into classrooms and into technology that students are required to use in school. There is already a Coalition for an AI Moratorium in New York, weighing in on DOE guidance on AI, which it considers inadequate.