Watch the recording on this website or watch and comment on social media:
Should high schools adopt all-day cell phone bans (bell-to-bell)? What do you think? Does your child have a cell phone? How old were they when they got one? Are they allowed to use it in school? Raj Goyle, founder of Phone Free New York is our guest on Sree’s Sunday #NYTReadalong. He is the father of two teenage girls (ages 13 and 15). One is in public school and one in private school. Come for the cell phone discussion. Stay for his critique of The New York Times.
We will be live at 8:30 a.m. ET / 12:30 p.m. GMT / 6:00 p.m. IST (Sunday morning in the US, Sunday afternoon in the UK and Sunday evening in India). If you miss the show, you can always watch the replay, right on this page.
According to Phone Free New York, “Smartphone use in our schools has supercharged in-school violence and bullying, created an educational environment full of distraction and isolated our children from each other.”
Raj Goyle is a tech entrepreneur who knows first-hand how digital technology has transformed every facet of American life. He also is keenly aware of the negative consequences, particularly for young students. “While teen mental health has been on the decline since the widespread adoption of social media, the evidence shows that, since the pandemic, social media use has soared while our kids’ well-being has collapsed. There is strong evidence that social media and smartphones pose a significant danger to our kids”.
As of March 2025, at least nine states have enacted measures banning or restricting students' use of cell phones in schools. These states are Arkansas, California, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Ohio, South Carolina, and Virginia. The policies vary across states, ranging from outright bans to restrictions on usage during instructional time. Additionally, several other states are considering or implementing similar measures, including Arkansas, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Alabama and Maryland. There's a fight in the New York State legislature over whether or not New York schools will adopt a full ban, as proposed by Gov. Kathy Hochul. The opposition is led by an unlikely source: New York State school superintendents. This will be a fascinating discussion. It builds on several of the themes we discussed with Julie Scelfo from Mothers Against Media Addiction last year.
NYT Cooking Special
We have a .pdf of New York Times Cooking's special section focusing on pasta.
Click here to download (.pdf 56 MB)
Bonus: NYT Baseball Preview
We will have a .pdf of The New York Times’ Baseball Preview available on our website Sunday. If you’re a baseball fan, you won’t want to miss it. Click here to download (.pdf 13 MB)
Last Week (March 16): Liza Donnelly, New Yorker Cartoonist
ICYMI, last week’s show featured Liza Donnelly, a New Yorker Cartoonist, talking about an exhibit she curated on 100 years of New Yorker Cartoons at the Society of Illustrators. We also did a special tribute to our friend and colleague, Steve Taylor.
Sree’s Sunday #NYTReadalong is produced by Digimentors in partnership with Scroll and Scroll Global, one of India’s most important independent websites.
Sree Sreenivasan has been reviewing the print edition of the Sunday New York Times for nine years. Neil Parekh is the executive producer and occasional guest host.
The show is produced by Digimentors. We produce high-quality virtual and hybrid events for organizations big and small around the world. We also do social and digital consulting, training and workshops.
Neil Parekh is the executive producer and occasional guest host. If you're interested in having our team work with you, or are looking for sponsorship opportunities, please contact us through our website.
Thank you to MuckRack for your support of Sree's Sunday #NYTReadalong.
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