As the inherent risks of social media use become more broadly understood, pressure is building on government bodies at every level to enact effective regulations. There has been some action at the federal level: both the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services have published guidance, and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has called for warning labels on social media platforms.

But so far, perhaps the most impactful action is being taken at the local level—in school districts and individual schools that restrict or even outright ban the use of cell phones.

The efforts are all aimed at confronting a uniquely challenging public health emergency. Social media platforms are inherently addictive, and overexposure to the content they contain, and the social dynamics present on them present severe dangers to children’s mental and physical health.

Regulating these environments is challenging for two key reasons.

First, as software-defined platforms for individual expression, they fall into a murky legal area. As publishers, they enjoy the protections of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Because the content is user-generated, it’s broadly protected by the First Amendment.

And the platforms exist in digital space rather than IRL, so they can’t be held liable in the way that a physical venue could if, for example, a defect in its ventilation system made people sick.

Second, the infrastructure that makes social media possible is highly advanced, and as a result it’s not well understood by the public or by regulators. Even the term “algorithm,” which in the context of social media essentially means “a program that does something” feels exotic and unknowable to the vast majority of Americans.

It’s hard to build widespread public support for common-sense regulation of something almost everybody uses and almost nobody understands.

That’s why efforts at the local level to minimize social media usage, at least during the school day, may represent an important step forward. Regardless of whether social media poses an urgent mental health risk or, as Mark Zuckerberg claims, “the existing body of scientific work has not shown a causal link,” it’s just common sense that you can’t doom-scroll TikTok and learn quadratic equations at the same time.

It’s also well established that schools have the standing to regulate social media. Teachers have been regulating note-passing for generations.

The Los Angeles school district recently voted to ban cell phones entirely, gaining widespread attention. But they’re hardly alone: other schools are running pilot programs to curb usage, and in 76 percent of American schools some kind of restriction is in place.

For now, that might be the best regulation we can hope for as the battle to hold the platforms accountable plays out in Congress and in courtrooms.