Pinterest is currently piloting a new pop-up notification aimed at minors in the US and Canada during school hours. This prompt encourages young users to exit the app and silence notifications until the school day concludes.
The notification reads, “Focus is a beautiful thing. Stay in the moment by putting Pinterest down and pausing notifs until the school bell rings.”
This feature is targeted specifically at users aged 13 to 17 and will be active from 8 AM to 3 PM, Monday through Friday. Pinterest describes this as a large-scale test intended for millions of school-age users. The initiative follows CEO Bill Ready’s endorsement of the Kids Online Safety Act and the promotion of phone-free policies in schools, claiming to be the first tech company to implement such a proactive measure to aid student concentration.
In related developments, New York is on the verge of enacting a statewide prohibition on phone use during school hours, while several other states have already introduced regulations to limit or ban phone usage. In Europe, countries like Denmark and the Netherlands have implemented bans on phones in schools, and France recently announced that students will have to secure their phones away during school starting next academic year.
Pinterest has also committed $1 million to the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) to assist school leaders in fostering a healthy digital environment. This funding will support task forces in 12 school districts across the US aimed at developing policies that enhance students’ digital wellbeing.
“At Pinterest, we believe that schools can harness all the benefits technology offers while minimizing its potential distractions,” said Wanji Walcott, Pinterest’s Chief Legal and Business Affairs Officer. “It’s essential for tech companies to collaborate with educators, parents, and policymakers to create strategies that ensure smartphones are used as tools rather than distractions for our students.”
