Douglas Rooks has been a Maine editor, columnist and reporter for 40 years. The author of four books. He welcomes comment at [email protected].

Though seemingly unrelated, measures now before the Legislature to ban student cellphone use in classrooms and to slow down the headlong rush to establish AI data centers all over Maine actually have a good deal in common. We need to put some guardrails in place to assess the risks and benefits of new technology before we’re irrevocably committed, with the downsides evident only later.

Cellphones offer a cautionary note from the recent past. As they proliferated two decades ago, few questioned whether students should be able to use them routinely in classrooms. A few did ask questions. In New York City, where mayors can set school policy, Michael Bloomberg banned them in 2006, but Bill de Blasio reversed the policy nine years later, citing — among other things — parents’ desire to communicate instantly with their children.

Another decade on, we’ve realized what a mistake that was. Cellphones have become a major distraction as teachers contend with ever-shrinking attention spans. Increasingly,  Americans now understand this, and more than half of the states have banned phones “bell to bell.” New York state has now joined them.

Maine had the opportunity to enact a ban last year, but watered down the bill. Several school districts, including those based in Bath and Portland, have implemented bans with positive results all around. Teachers report better attendance and attention, and students welcome increased personal interactions. But lawmakers required only that districts set a policy by August 2026; many have yet to act.

Now, a proposal in Gov. Mills’  supplemental budget would implement a statewide ban with financial assistance for implementation. Unfortunately, the plan yielded a partisan divide on the Education Committee, with Democrats supporting it and Republicans saying districts need more time.

The district-by-district approach is misconceived, however, and follows the Department of Education’s too frequent resort to “local control” even when major issues are stake. School boards and communities alike struggled alone through the pandemic and after on issues like masking and online learning when there should have been at least strong state guidance.

Cellphone use is similar. There’s no reasonable argument to be made that conditions are significantly different in York and Aroostook counties. A statewide rule is far better.

Data centers represent a much larger and more ominous prospect, and the current attempt to slow them down through a one-year moratorium makes a lot of sense. True, tech billionaires and giant corporations are investing heavily — it’s what they do — but no results to date suggest that AI will revolutionize life on this planet, or will suddenly replace half the jobs now available, as certain fevered imaginings have it.

It shouldn’t need repeating but apparently does: Artificial intelligence, so called, was invented by humans and should serve human purposes. Very few existing humans want robots to take over and start running things.

Like previous technologies, AI can be a useful tool, but it’s limited because it can only feed on what humans have already done, not the manifold changes we’ll need to make to survive on this planet over the next century.

And that’s just the problem. Data centers use enormous amounts of electricity. At current rates of adoption, the U.S. Department of Energy says 12% of all generation capacity could be used in data centers by 2028, two years from now. The “large language” models being used are not the only ways to implement AI, but are certainly among the most wasteful of energy and, perhaps, investment capital.

The Trump administration’s irrational energy policies notwithstanding, we must still replace the fossil fuel burning used for heating, and especially transportation, if we’re to keep global warming within bounds. At this rate, we could replace the entire vehicle fleet with EVs, a virtual impossibility, and still overwhelm the electric grid.

Conservation is still the best way to protect humanity’s place on the planet, and AI data centers work in direct opposition to what should be our joint survival strategy. There’s a reason why so many Maine communities have risen up in protest; understanding that we must change our ways finally may have hit home.

In any case, few commitments or spending on data centers has taken place, and those that are in progress can continue. But a one-year cooling off period is simply good insurance in what is clearly an overheated market.

More cautious and yes, more intelligent use of technology is in different ways promoted by a school cellphone ban and a pause in data center construction to consider AI’s importance and value. Forces in opposition are gathering, though, and public support will be essential if lawmakers are to stick to their resolves.