Social Issues Archives - Close Up Foundation

Civil Rights & Individual Liberties Education Government & Elections Social Issues

The Rise and Impact of Phone Bans in U.S. Public Schools

September 12, 2025

In recent years, cell phones have moved from novelty to necessity in daily life, but in U.S. public schools, they’ve also become a battleground. Facing growing concerns about distraction, mental health, and safety, state legislatures and school boards across the country are implementing bans on student phone use during the school day. Supporters say the […]

Book Bans in Schools and Libraries

June 09, 2025

Book banning—along with other ways of restricting public access to written expression—has been a common and controversial issue throughout the history of the United States. For example, Harper Lee’s novel, “To Kill A Mockingbird,” has been repeatedly banned in schools and public libraries across the country since it was published in 1960. Challenges to the […]

Economic Issues Social Issues

The Decline of Local Newspapers

December 10, 2024

A free press is a crucial part of our democracy—so important that it was enshrined in the First Amendment of the Constitution. Once a staple of information, newspapers have been steadily declining and disappearing for decades. There are nearly 6,000 newspapers that publish in the United States and, on average, two shut down every week.1 […]

State and Federal Legislation on Gender-Affirming Care for Minors

October 09, 2024

In the past six years, the introduction of bills in state legislatures to ban gender-affirming care for transgender and gender diverse youth has increased exponentially. In 2018, two such bills were introduced. In 2023, there were 185. Arkansas became the first state to ban gender-affirming care for youth in 2021; now, there are 26 states […]

The 13th Amendment, Crime Legislation, and America’s High Incarceration Rate

May 08, 2024

Today, 25 percent of the world’s documented prison population is incarcerated in the United States. Despite America being the land of the free, there are more recorded prisoners here than in any other country: 2,068,800. So, how did the United States get here? Over the last 40 years, numerous factors have contributed to the dramatic […]

Social Issues

Social Spaces for Kids and Teens

April 04, 2024

Last fall, 41 state attorneys general sued Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, alleging that it “knowingly designed and deployed harmful features … to purposefully addict children and teens.”1 In January, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a public hearing to address online child safety issues.2 And this month, the House of Representatives voted […]

Is Instagram’s Political Content Limitation a Recipe for Silence or Progress?

March 28, 2024

Instagram’s recent introduction of a feature limiting political content on its social media platform reflects a broader shift away from actively recommending such content. In a statement, parent company Meta said, “If you decide to follow accounts that post political content, we don’t want to get between you and their posts, but we also don’t […]

Education Social Issues

What Role Should Parents Have in Public Education?

March 19, 2024

In the years following students’ return to in-person classes after the COVID-19 outbreak, questions about parents’ role in education and curriculum development—and the appropriateness of discussing controversial topics such as sex and gender orientation in the classroom—have come to the forefront of political debate. A bill recently introduced in Congress, the Books Save Lives Act, […]

The Debate About Urban (Re)Design in the United States

February 01, 2024

Amidst the mosaic of national debates surrounding climate change, economic justice, and public health, there is a growing focus on the intersection of these issues and the design of our communities. The overwhelming majority of U.S. households own at least one vehicle, and the number of vehicles registered in the United States has continued to […]

Drag Bans: A Violation of the First Amendment?

April 26, 2023

Last month, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed a first-of-its-kind law banning “adult cabaret entertainment” on public property or in any location where people under 18 could be present. Senate Bill 3, commonly known as the “drag ban,” in part defines these performances as “male or female impersonators who provide entertainment that appeals to a prurient […]