ye7 California Schools Must Restrict Phones Under New Law Signed by Newsom
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation on Monday giving California school districts two years to begin banning or restricting cellphone use during school hoursye7, an initiative that is intended to address rising concerns over social media and children’s mental health.
The Phone-Free Schools Act, which will require schools in the nation’s most populous state to restrict cellphones by July 1, 2026, is the latest statewide effort to curb phone use by children in classrooms. More than a dozen states in a little more than a year already have passed restrictions, including Louisiana, Indiana and Florida.
Calls for school crackdowns have mounted with reports of cyberbullying among adolescents and studies indicating that smartphones, which offer round-the-clock distraction and social media access, have hindered academic instruction and the mental health of children.
In a study in April by the Pew Research Center, some 72 percent of high school teachers and 33 percent of middle school teachers said that cellphone distractions during class were a “major problem.” The surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, has called for social media platforms to carry warning labels like those on cigarettes and other addictive consumer products. And Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist who has studied the effects of phone use, has urged schools to strictly limit the use of smartphones.
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SKIP ADVERTISEMENTLast year, nearly three dozen states sued Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, alleging that the company knowingly sought to addict children to its platforms.
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In Californiaye7, most schools already have cellphone restrictions or are in the process of developing them. Los Angeles Unified, the nation’s second-largest school district, will ban cellphones starting in January and is working out details.