SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom sent letters Tuesday to school districts, urging them to restrict students’ use of smartphones on campus — a move that comes amid an ongoing nationwide debate about the mental health impacts of social media on children and teens.
In South Carolina, the State Board of Education took up guidelines to tell local districts to ban cellphone use during class time, but postponed a final vote until next month to take more time to craft the proposal.
The efforts mark a broader push by officials in Utah, Florida, Louisiana and elsewhere to try to limit cellphone use in schools in order to reduce distractions in the classroom.
But progress can be challenging. Cellphone bans are already in place at many schools. But they aren’t always enforced, and students often find ways to bend the rules, like hiding phones on their laps. Some parents have expressed concerns that bans could cut them off from their kids if there is an emergency.
Districts should “act now” to help students focus at school by restricting their smartphone use, Newsom said in the letter. He also cited risks to the well-being of young people, a subject which garnered renewed attention in June after U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called on Congress to require warning labels on social media platforms.
“Every classroom should be a place of focus, learning, and growth,” Newsom, a Democrat, said in his letter. “Working together, educators, administrators, and parents can create an environment where students are fully engaged in their education, free from the distractions on the phones and pressures of social media.”
Newsom said earlier this summer that he was planning to address student smartphone use, and his letter says he is working on it with the Legislature. Tuesday’s announcement is not a mandate but nudges districts to act.
Newsom signed a law in 2019 granting districts the authority to regulate student smartphone access during school hours.
The debate over banning cellphones in schools to improve academic outcomes is not new. But officials often resort to bans as a solution rather than find ways to integrate digital devices as tools for learning, said Antero Garcia, a professor at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education.
“What I’m struck by is society’s inability to kind of move forward and find other kinds of solutions other than perpetually going back to this ‘Should we ban devices?’ conversation as the primary solution to something that hasn’t worked,” Garcia said.
“Suggesting curtailing cellphone use in schools is a great thing to say,” he added. “What that means for the middle school teacher come next week when many schools start is a very different picture.”
But some parents say banning cellphones would help their kids focus during class. Jessica French, a parent of a 16-year old and a 12-year-old living in the Northern California town of Palo Cedro, said her son has played games on a classmate’s phone while at school, further distracting him from learning. There should be a statewide ban on phones in class, she said.
Nathalie Hrizi, a parent and teacher in San Francisco, said phone bans can help minimize distractions in class and that parents would still be able to get in touch with their children if needed by calling the school.
Some schools and districts in California have taken action. Los Angeles Unified, the second-largest school district in the nation s, passed a ban on student cellphone use during school to take effect in January.
