SACRAMENTO, California — As the school year begins, there's a new effort from the state to deal with smartphones in the classroom. Governor Gavin Newsom wrote a letter Tuesday urging school leaders to restrict cellphone use on campus due to the impacts the devices can have on students’ mental health and academic performance.
This call to action comes two months after the U.S. Surgeon General called for a warning label on social media due to its impacts on the mental health of younger users.
Clinical and Forensic Psychologist Dr. Andrew Mendonsa has seen the impacts among youth he's treated.
"One of the big things that I've been seeing is this increase in anxiety and depression. In children and youth, I mainly see that in cyber bullying, media comparisons," he said. "A big one in the teenage group is kind of that FOMO, fear of missing out."
California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond also spoke out Tuesday, calling for more leaders to join in the effort to restrict cellphone use in schools.
In an interview with ABC10, he pointed to a number of bills in the state legislature on the topic.
"I've reached out to those authors. We're going to work with them to help them to implement these policies. At the end of the day, I think this is a great thing for the well-being of our students," he said.
Thurmond said right now, cellphone policy implementation is just an option, and it's up to each district.
One bill, SB 3216, would require school governing boards to limit or prohibit the use of smartphones at school by mid-2026.
Currently, policies vary among districts. The California Federation of Teachers (CFT), a union of educators and classified professionals, is in favor of seeing more policies implemented.
"We haven't seen this applied broadly throughout the state, and we think we need to be looking at that," CFT President Jeff Freitas said.
Lincoln Unified School District in San Joaquin County and Roseville City School District are two local districts that have implemented policies restricting cellphones. Lincoln Unified now requires students have them off during school and put in an identified space at the start of class.
"I think it's a good idea just to question the use — the mass use of them," said Niko Leissl, a parent of a senior who said he is on board with the effort for districts to come up with cellphone policies.
What restrictions might look like if more districts get on board is unclear as well as how to enforce them.
Tammie Howze, the grandmother of a Sacramento middle schooler, is concerned about safety if students are asked to place their cellphones in a bag or bucket during class.
"I would feel more comfortable with having the phone in his pocket because we're not in control of someone coming in. We don't know when someone is going to come in to shoot or disrupt," she said
The legislative session ends on Aug. 31, so there are just a couple weeks left for lawmakers to get bills on the topic through the legislature and to the governor's desk.
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