Hotels are notorious for age discrimination, specifically in their policies regarding minimum age to book a room. Many hotels do not set the minimum age cutoff at 18 like most businesses do, and instead have booking age cutoffs at 20 – 21 years old, with some even going as high as 25 years old! This…
Willowbrook Mall is a huge mall located in northwest Houston. This mall is used often as a place of gathering, shopping, and hanging out for Houston youth and adults alike. However, they have recently announced that they are launching a temporary “youth curfew” in response to concerns about large, unsupervised teen gatherings organized through social…
Most people are familiar with the “school to prison pipeline,” the collection of systemic practices and policies that funnel young people directly from the public education system into the prison system. Many studies have been conducted and papers published about how marginalized young people are negatively impacted by this pipeline. Recent publications have gone even…
In recent years, Uber has become one of the most popular ridesharing apps, and is used daily by hundreds of people. Uber allows users to remotely request a ride, and wait only a few minutes for a nearby driver to pick them up and deliver them to their requested location. This technology has made travel…
Over the last few years, lawmakers across the country have zeroed in on blaming social media as the central culprit behind youth mental health struggles. The result has been a patchwork of state laws, some already on the books, others tied up in court, that try to impose age limits, parental consent rules, or design…
In different parts of the world, there is a growing attempt to solve education problems with simplistic and authoritarian measures. Among them, the prohibition of cell phone use in schools has been presented as a magic solution to inattention, low performance, and indiscipline. But this narrative ignores a fundamental truth: taking away rights does not…
The National Youth Rights Association has such an immense history of impacts it’s made on the country. At one point in time we had members testifying in front of legislatures, influencing supreme court decisions, appearing on news outlets regularly, and successfully leading campaigns to lower the voting age in states’ local elections. And then… things…
On July 1st, 2024, SB 1329, called the “Parental Rights in Medical Decision-Making Act,” went into effect in Idaho. This bill amends Idaho law to require parental consent for most health care services to minors, and parental access to minors’ medical records, with only narrow exceptions. The bill defines “healthcare” as “for the diagnosis, screening,…
In recent years, a growing number of states have taken legislative action to limit or prohibit student cellphone use during school hours. Florida’s law is among the most prominent examples, passing a statewide regulation in 2023 requiring public schools to ban student phone use during class time and to block access to social media on…
Across the United States, most major banks make it impossible for minors to open and manage their own bank accounts without parental involvement. Even though teenagers today often earn income through part-time and full-time jobs, online work, or entrepreneurship, the banking industry continues to impose rigid age restrictions that prevent them from having true financial…
