By India McCarty
Pinterest has launched a new feature encouraging kids to stay off their platform during school hours.
“Focus is a beautiful thing,” a new pop-up prompt reads. “Stay in the moment by putting Pinterest down and pausing notifs [sic] until the school bell rings.”
The pop-up only appears on accounts registered to users between the ages of 13 and 18, and only between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m., Monday to Friday. Pinterest claims it is the first tech company to test out this kind of feature.
“This experiment will reach millions of their users across the US and Canada, and learnings will help better inform our teams as they continue to build a positive and inspirational platform for young people,” a statement from Pinterest reads.
Pinterest is prompting teens to close the app at school https://t.co/rz22MVSBMm
— The Verge (@verge) April 22, 2025
This isn’t the only project aimed at kids that Pinterest is working on. The company recently teamed up with the International Society for Technology in Education (ITSE) on a new program to develop “Digital Innovation Wellbeing Task Forces” in 12 school districts.
“The initiative responds to the urgent need to teach digital citizenship amidst predominantly ‘device management’ approaches that prioritize limiting student tech access over teaching healthy tech use,” a statement from Pinterest reads. “While 98% of educators say teaching digital citizenship should be a priority in their school, only 36% say it is actually being prioritized, according to data from ISTE+ASCD.”
Related: Students Praise School Phone Ban: ‘My Attention Has Skyrocketed’
The site has also endorsed legislation in Texas that addresses the issue of kids being distracted by their smartphones during class and has reached out to the governors of California, Florida, New York and Virginia offering support as these states also implement phone-free school initiatives.
“As the CEO of Pinterest and a tech executive who has spent decades in the industry, I’m acutely aware of how algorithms are often designed to keep users’ eyes glued to their screens,” company head Bill Ready wrote in an essay for TIME. “As a parent, I see how the apps can be more addictive than additive, negatively impacting students’ ability to stay focused in and out of school.”
He continued, “I believe we can take advantage of all that technology has to offer our students while minimizing the harms. We have the chance to empower a bright new generation of young people to become responsible digital citizens who think critically about what they consume online, and when they consume it.”
“It’s time for tech companies to prioritize learning and youth wellbeing. And it starts with phone-free schools,” Ready concluded.
Hopefully, other social media platforms will follow Pinterest’s lead and implement their own measures to keep kids off their platforms — and their phones — during school hours.
Read Next: What Experts Think About South Carolina’s School Phone Ban
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