Tech Should Help Our Kids Learn, Not Hook Them

Phone bans were step one. Saif Rehman's plan for standards on school devices, apps and AI so Maryland kids learn with technology without being hooked.

Every parent in District 9A knows the moment. You ask a simple question at dinner and get a one word answer, because a screen is still pulling at your child's attention. My wife and I are raising three children in Ellicott City, and we have had those dinners too. Phones, tablets, games, apps and now AI chatbots are part of growing up. That is not going to change, and it should not. Used well, technology opens doors no generation before ours had. The problem is that too much of what our kids use was never designed to help them learn. It was designed to keep them on the screen. I have spent my career on the other side of the screen. All three of my degrees are in information technology. For more than 30 years I have helped government agencies modernize how they work, and for 21 years I have run my own technology consulting firm, NextGen Consulting. Today much of our work is AI driven government modernization. I know how these products are built, what choices go into them, and what it takes to hold technology to a standard. That is the experience I want to bring to Annapolis on this issue. Where Maryland Stands Today Our schools have already taken the first step. Howard County Public Schools began restricting student phone use from first bell to last bell, PreK through 12th grade, on March 3, 2025. Montgomery County Public Schools moved to a bell to bell rule for students this school year. And in 2026, the General Assembly passed the Maryland Phone Free Schools Act, which requires every county school board to adopt a bell to bell policy starting in the 2027 2028 school year. Maryland also passed the Maryland Kids Code in 2024, which requires online services likely to be used by children to consider children's best interests in how their features are designed. That law is…