Goodbye to cell phones in California schools. Governor Gavin Newsom signed the Phone-Free Schools Act on Monday, requiring thousands of schools and districts in the most populous state in the country to develop regulations to limit or prohibit phones in their classrooms. The law states that all schools must have these guidelines ready by July 1, 2026. The text of the law indicates that these must “support the education of students and their health.”
“We know that excessive phone use increases anxiety, depression and other mental health issues, but we have the power to intervene,” Newsom said in a statement. The Democratic leader says the policy will help children in the lower 12 grades of the system focus on academic performance, social skills and the world around them instead of screens.
The rule follows a decision in June by the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second-largest behind New York City, to support a ban on cellphones to eliminate classroom distractions beginning in January 2025. Ninety-seven percent of students use devices during the school day for an average of 43 minutes, according to Common Sense Media, a parent-focused information site.
The state law, known as AB 3216, allows parents and educators to make exceptions when it is an emergency or in response to a threatening or dangerous situation. This has been one of the most controversial aspects of the law, since cell phones are essential in cases such as mass shootings at school, a sad reality that politicians and educators must frequently deal with in the country. Some schools have also warned that a ban on cell phones could increase cases of cyberbullying. The proposal had the support of Democratic and Republican legislators in its passage through the local Congress.
AB 3216 dates back to 2019. Lawmakers then took a first step toward limiting cellphone use in classrooms. That law gave the state’s 100 school districts the freedom to develop tailored regulations. “Since then, several studies show that excessive phone use not only interferes with the learning process, but also contributes to anxiety among teenagers, depression, and cyberbullying,” said local legislator Al Muratsuchi, one of the sponsors of the new law.
For several years now, California schools have been trying to limit the omnipresence of phones in classrooms. 72% of high school teachers consider it a problem. At the secondary level, the figure for educators is 33%, according to the Pew Center. They complain about how common it is to find students immersed in their personal screens and even with headphones on while the class is taking place. Some schools have opted to distribute magnetic envelopes Yonder to keep their spaces phone-free. Others prefer simpler solutions, such as a designated closet for devices in each classroom.
Vivek Murthy, the top health official in the US government, published an opinion last May calling for limiting children’s access to social media because of the impact they can have on brain development. The surgeon general, one of the heads of the Department of Health, issued a warning about the way in which the platforms are designed and used to hook the youngest. 95% of young people between 13 and 17 years old in the United States say they are users of one of these.
California joins a growing number of states that are imposing classroom controls. Florida adopted a similar law last year, as did Indiana and Ohio, which will see statewide rules with the same goal take effect in the coming months. New York City is debating whether to reinstate a ban it had in place until 2015 but then lifted. New York City Mayor Eric Adams and the city’s schools superintendent want to see how the experiment works in California before taking tougher action.
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