A landmark bill aimed at limiting or banning smartphone use by schools was signed into law yesterday by California Governor Gavin Newsom-a move the governor claims will help curb smartphone use effects on students’ mental health and learning. This new legislation is a signal of what policymakers have done in implementing a crackdown to address and prevent increasing perceptions of the negative impact of excessive use of smartphones and their association with mental health risks, including anxiety and depression, among some teenagers.
The California legislation passed
The state assembly by a vote of 76-0 and the senate by 38-1. The law calls for student cellphone use in schools to be limited, and the school boards or governing bodies must therefore establish policies with respect to the same, effective from July 1, 2026, with reviews every five years. Governor Newsom said that students must be deprived of the distraction of smartphone screens to be able to focus on academics, social, and more at school.
Not alone in this trend, California joined 13 other states that banned or restricted cellphones in schools or instructed educators to enact local policies. The move follows Florida’s lead back in 2023, marking the state when it became the very first to officially ban cellphones in classrooms.
What fueled such moves partly are warnings from U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, who, last June, called for stronger action against the negative effects of excessive use of social media. Murthy compared it to a mental health emergency, linking it to the JAMA-done study. According to that study, teens who spend more than three hours a day on social media face risks of developing mental problems. The findings are alarming as the Gallup poll showed the average teenager spends 4.8 hours per day on social media.
Already, the Los Angeles County moved ahead of other counties in California by banning smartphones for its 429,000 students earlier in June. This county-level decision is already a precedence for the state as it tries to consider the broader impact of technology on nearly 5.9 million public school students in the state.
The discussion on smartphone use in schools becomes a critical issue not only in terms of academic focus but also on the well-being of students as other states continue to follow suit.
