There’s a new-ish green, furry supporter meant to help distracted students focus. WAMC’s Samantha Simmons took a deep dive to get to know New York's “Frankie Focus.”
“Frankie Focus,” a bespectacled beast who is now the face of the state’s efforts to remove smartphones from schools, is shaggy in nature with oddly straight teeth. He was unveiled by New York Governor Kathy Hochul last month in Brooklyn.
But who or what is Frankie Focus? He doesn’t say much, but he graciously gave WAMC an interview.
“I am a normal teenage boy,” Focus said.
Focus was created as a way to publicize Hochul’s “distraction-free schools” initiative that requires all schools in New York to ban cell phones and other internet-enabled devices during the school day.
The distraction-free schools’ policy was included in the state budget that was signed in May. More than $13 million was made available for school districts to comply with the ban, making New York one of the largest states in the country to ban smart devices.
Speaking at a Brooklyn elementary school in early September, Hochul said kids spend too much time on their phone.
“For too long, students have sat in schools with their cell phone in their hand, distracted looking at TikTok dance videos,” Hochul said. “Anybody ever do that? You don't have to tell me here, that's all right, but do that at home. My friends do that at home. Do that somewhere else, but this is a chance for you to learn to make friends, to be in physical education class and talk to each other, talk about what you're going to do after school in the cafeteria, and just start communicating again.”
Don’t worry, WAMC asked if Focus knows any TikTok dances.
“No,” Focus said.
Focus tells WAMC that while he is aware he is viewed as “weird” by some, he’s determined to do his own thing.
“I want other people to see that it’s okay to be yourself and still have fun,” Focus said.
He says it may be uncomfortable to not use your phone 24/7 initially, but soon you’ll feel better in ways you didn’t anticipate. He says it will take some time, but you’ll likely build stronger friendships and potentially do better in school as a result. Instead of doom scrolling, he encourages you to take a break. He recently got into knitting and is working on a scarf ahead of New York’s sometimes brutal winters.
“I do some breathing exercises and stuff. I hang out with some friends or my family and talk about it,” Focus said. “Also, I like playing pickup games of soccer or basketball because it gets all the nervous energy out. Reading has also been fun to discover again. I like a good sci-fi novel. They’re pretty sick.”
Sarah Domoff is an assistant professor of psychology at the University at Albany. Trained on problematic media use for children, Domoff says kids spending too much time on the phone and social media has been linked to higher levels of emotional dysregulation and ADHD symptoms.
“We're kind of seeing this as like a dynamic interaction where both can be at play, so that you have some youth who may be at risk engaged and be more prone to problematic use, but then this problematic use may displace important things for children and teens like developing self-regulation skills or coping skills or sleep even and that in time may impact their well-being, or academics, for example, so much is to still be uncovered,” Domoff said.
But it doesn’t stop or start with children, according to Domoff. She says adults must also practice regulation. Domoff says users are being pulled from positive interactions when being distracted by devices, but it’s not all bad.
“We do know that people like to share things that they find on social media, and it will talk about what they're watching together, like a family watching a movie that's something different. And so considering that there can be these pros and cons and seeing is this taking away from the good stuff, the benefits of this moment, or is it enhancing,” Domoff asked rhetorically.
Domoff says instead, people should try using their devices to implement what she calls “harm reduction.” This could include calm music playing in the background when you feel like doom scrolling.
Focus likes Jazz… kind of like Barry B. Benson. He specifically is a self-proclaimed “big [Charles] Mingus-head.”
Focus, who says his favorite subject is “uhhhh chemistry,” doomscrolls Duolingo -- the language learning app you see the youngins on at the bar just before the end of the day trying not to lose their dayslong streak.
But how popular is Focus, so far? Not popular enough to have one of the most famous mascots of our time, Gritty’s, phone number. But he hopes to have the Philadelphia Flyers’ orange and also shaggy mascot’s number soon.
“Gritty if ur [you’re] reading this hmu…”
Amid his spate of school visits, Focus recently went on Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” And despite “Good Will Hunting” star Matt Damon wearing his coat during the late-night show, Focus maintains that the eerily costume-like appearance isn’t a suit, despite it being publicly known that the suit is worn by a rotation of executive staff members and some paid professionals.
“This is literally who I am,” Focus said. “I am a furry green monster. Don’t listen to Matt Damon.”
