Pinterest tests new pop-ups to nudge kids off the app while at school

Social media service Pinterest is testing a new pop-up nudging kids to log off the platform while in School. The notification urges them to "Pinterest down" and pause notifications "until the school bell rings." 

As reported by The Verge, the pop-up will only appear during school hours (8 AM to 3 PM) from Monday to Friday. Pinterest says the prompt will reach "millions" of school-age users. It's part of a bigger push to test "proactive" features and promote good online habits.  

The company also announced a $1 million grant to the International Society of Technology in Education (ISTE) that will "support school leaders in creating a healthy digital culture in their schools."

Pinterest says the grant will fund 12 US school districts to develop policies that promote "digital wellbeing." 

Wanji Walcott, Pinterest's chief legal and business affairs officer, told The Verge "that schools can take advantage of all that technology has to offer students, while minimizing the harms and distractions." 

Walcott said, "Tech companies need to work together with teachers, parents, and policymakers to build solutions that ensure in the hands of our students, smartphones are tools, not distractions."  

In January this year, Pinterest CEO Bill Ready advocated for "phone-free schools." He told the Washington Post,  "It's so objectively clear that students will benefit from fewer distractions in the classroom," and "It will benefit their learning." 

The US-based nonpartisan think tank Pew Research Center conducted a survey in the fall of 2023 about the harms of cellphone distractions in the classroom. 72% of polled high school teachers said "that students being distracted by cellphones is a major problem in their classroom."