Governor of California, Gavin Newsom announced that he is looking forward to restrict usage of smartphones during the school days in order to reduce mental health risks of social media. This announcement came just a day after U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy asked Congress to provide the warning labels on social media platforms and their effects on young people. Newsom also said he is thinking to build a law he signed in 2019 that give directions to schools to ban or limit the use of smartphones by students during school hours.
The democratic governor said, “As the Surgeon General affirmed, social media is harming the mental health of our youth. I look forward to working with the Legislature to restrict the use of smartphones during the school day. When children and teens are in school, they should be focused on their studies — not their screens.”
This announcement came after a lot of debates across the country over addressing the impacts of social media and smartphone usage, particularly on young people. The a proposal to make law regarding this issue in California has failed to come in effect in recent years. The law to ban the usage of cell phones of students has been voted by the Los Angeles Unified School District board on Tuesday. This happened when a board member Nick Melvoin, was a teacher who visited school campuses regularly where he said about how students are using their cell phones unlike adults.
“When I talk to teachers and students and parents and principals, I also hear the same, which is that more and more time is being spent on policing student phone use,” he said at the meeting. “There’s not coherent enforcement, and they’re looking for some support from the board and from the district.”