Texas Senate rivals rally as NBC News examines YouTube use in schools – Mezha.net

Texas Senate rivals rally as NBC News examines YouTube use in schools  Mezha.net

An NBC News analysis reviewed more than 17,000 videos watched on students’ devices, while Texas Senate candidates Ken Paxton and James Talarico made their final campaign pitches as early voting began. YouTube is widely used in American classrooms, where many school districts provide laptops and use educational videos but struggle to limit what else students can watch. From math lessons, students can reach videos with profanity or sexually suggestive scenes in a few clicks. NBC News reporters combined AI tools with manual review to examine more than 17,000 videos viewed on students’ devices. Several students who had difficulty resisting YouTube said it took time away from learning. Richard, one of them, watched sports highlights, police chase footage and AI-generated animations on his school-issued laptop, often during class.

His mother asked school administrators to block the platform, but they said too many teachers relied on it for instruction. “Why can’t you see what this is doing?” she wondered. “This constant, immediate gratification on a screen all day long, instead of healthy interactions being taught by a teacher, is so unhealthy.” With in-person early voting underway in Texas, Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico held rallies across the state. Paxton addressed about 350 people in Fort Worth on Monday and highlighted Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the event’s featured