Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to restrict smartphone usage in schools

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday that helium wants to restrict students' usage of smartphones during the schoolhouse day, citing the intelligence wellness risks of societal media.

The announcement, which was archetypal reported by Politico, comes a time aft U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called connected Congress to necessitate informing labels connected societal media platforms and their effects connected young people. Newsom said helium plans to physique connected a instrumentality helium signed successful 2019 that authorized schoolhouse districts to bounds oregon prohibition the usage of smartphones by students portion astatine schoolhouse oregon nether the supervision of a schoolhouse employee.

"As the Surgeon General affirmed, societal media is harming the intelligence wellness of our youth," the Democratic politician said successful a statement. "I look guardant to moving with the Legislature to restrict the usage of smartphones during the schoolhouse day. When children and teens are successful school, they should beryllium focused connected their studies - not their screens."

Newsom's bureau did not supply further details connected the proposal. But the California School Boards Association said immoderate regulations implicit pupil smartphone usage should beryllium near up to schoolhouse districts, not the state.

"We enactment authorities which empowers schoolhouse leaders to marque argumentation decisions astatine a section level that bespeak their community's concerns and what's indispensable to enactment their students," spokesperson Troy Flint said.

Newsom's announcement comes amid increasing statement crossed the state implicit however to code the impacts of societal media and smartphone usage, peculiarly connected young people. Some teens person pledged to enactment disconnected societal media to amended their intelligence wellness and to assistance them absorption connected schoolwork and extracurricular activities.

In Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis earlier this twelvemonth signed 1 of the astir restrictive bans successful the federation connected children's usage of societal media. The New York authorities Legislature passed a measure earlier this period that would let parents to artifact their kids from getting societal media posts suggested to them by the platform's algorithm.

In California, a connection to good societal media platforms for addicting children has failed to go instrumentality successful caller years. But a measure by authorities Sen. Nancy Skinner, a Democrat representing Berkeley, that would prohibition online platforms from providing addictive feeds to minors passed the authorities Senate successful May and is acceptable for a committee proceeding successful the Assembly adjacent month.

The Los Angeles Unified School District committee voted Tuesday for the territory to make policies banning students' usage of compartment phones passim the schoolhouse day, with immoderate exceptions. Board Member Nick Melvoin, who was a teacher and visits schoolhouse campuses regularly, said he's been "struck" by however "students are glued to their compartment phones, not dissimilar adults."

"When I speech to teachers and students and parents and principals, I besides perceive the same, which is that much and much clip is being spent connected policing pupil telephone use," helium said astatine the meeting. "There's not coherent enforcement, and they're looking for immoderate enactment from the committee and from the district."

State Sen. Henry Stern, a Democrat representing portion of the Los Angeles area, introduced a measure this twelvemonth to grow schoolhouse districts' authorization to bounds students' societal media usage astatine schools. Stern said he'd beryllium consenting to propulsion his bill, which already passed the Senate, if lawmakers and Newsom tin travel up with a amended solution. Stern said helium texted Newsom to convey him aft the governor's announcement.

"It's conscionable excessively hard for each teacher, each school, oregon each genitor to person to fig this retired connected their own," Stern said. "There's immoderate times wherever authorities conscionable has to measurement successful and marque immoderate bigger rules of the road."