In the summer, he stated that he will collaborate with legislators to pursue a ban on the use of school phones across the state.
The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, has published a statement in which he expresses his support for endeavors that attempt to restrict the use of smartphones in educational institutions located inside the state. The governor made his position public just a few hours before board members of the Los Angeles Unified School District decided to approve a proposal to prohibit the use of mobile phones in schools, as reported by The New York Times. According to Newsom, he will collaborate with legislators “to restrict the use of smartphones during the school day” this summer. He stated that this is because children and adolescents “should be focused on their studies — not their screens.”
In addition, the governor referred to and concurred with an opinion piece written by the United States Surgeon General and published by The Times. In the piece, the Surgeon General stated that social media sites ought to be mandated to display warning labels from his office because of the enormous negative impact they can have on the mental health of adolescents. According to the explanation that Vivek Murthy provided in his article, the label “which requires congressional action, would regularly remind parents and adolescents that social media has not been proven safe.”
According to Newsom, the guidelines that he drafts will build upon the directive that he signed in 2019, which permits districts to enact phone bans but does not oblige them to do so automatically. If California is successful in passing a law that prohibits the use of a phone during school hours, it will join the list of states that have passed legislation that is comparable to what Florida and Indiana have done. It is mandatory for schools in the state of Florida to prohibit their students from using their mobile devices during class time. In some districts, the schools are even required to prohibit the use of mobile devices until it is time for the kids to leave for home. Additional states are on the verge of following suit. In the beginning of this year, the city of New York acknowledged social media as a potential threat to public health. Additionally, Governor Kathy Hochul had previously stated that she would pursue phone restrictions for schools in the state of New York in the following year.
Despite the fact that the request for a phone ban was ultimately approved by the board members of LA, there were two members who voted against it. One of them stated to The Times that he voted against it because he believes that instructors are already having trouble enforcing the limits that are already in place in schools. Perhaps more importantly, he stated that parents should be able to get in touch with their children in the event of an emergency, such as a school shooting. This statement echoed the worries of parents who had previously opposed the prohibition of phone use in schools.