California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, announced Tuesday his commitment to restrict students' smartphone use during the school day, pointing to the Biden administration's claims that social media harms children's mental health. .
The decision comes after US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy urged Congress to require warning labels on social media platforms about their impact on young people, similar to warning labels on cigarettes and alcohol on its impact on a person's health, according to POLITICO, which first reported. Newsom's announcement.
Newsom and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, have warned for years about the harm of social media to children, saying that technology companies have been blocking efforts to protect young people.
Last year, Newsom asked NetChoice to drop a lawsuit against the child online safety law, the Age Appropriate Design Code Act, which he signed in 2022. NetChoice, whose members include tech giants such as Meta, Amazon and Google, is a trade association. which advocates for free expression and free enterprise on the Internet.
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California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday his commitment to restrict students' smartphone use during the school day. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
The governor said Tuesday that he plans to build on a law he signed in 2019 that gave school districts the power to limit or ban students' smartphone use during school hours. He said he would work with his Democratic-controlled Legislature during the current session to pass a measure to restrict smartphone use in schools.
“As the Surgeon General stated, social media is harming the mental health of our youth,” Newsom said in a statement. “Building on legislation I signed in 2019, I look forward to working with the Legislature to restrict smartphone use during the school day. When children and teens are in school, they should focus on their studies, not their screens.”
The California School Boards Association said school districts should make decisions about whether to regulate smartphone use in schools, rather than the state.
“We support legislation that empowers school leaders to make policy decisions at the local level that reflect the concerns of their community and what is necessary to support their students,” said California School Boards Association spokesperson Troy Flint. , to The Associated Press.
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US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy urged Congress to require warning labels on social media platforms about their impact on children. (REUTERS/Tom Brenner)
The Los Angeles Unified School District board voted Tuesday to have the district establish policies prohibiting student use of smartphones during the school day, with some exceptions. Board member Nick Melvoin noted how “students are glued to their cell phones, just like adults.”
“When I talk to teachers, students, parents and principals, I also hear the same thing: that more and more time is spent monitoring students' phone use,” he said at the meeting. “There is no consistent application and they are looking for some support from the board and the district.”
Newsom's announcement is noteworthy since California's Silicon Valley is where many technology companies are located.
The decision also puts California's governor on the same side of the debate as Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who earlier this year signed one of the country's most restrictive bans on children's use of social media.
In recent years, a California proposal to fine social media platforms for addicted children failed to become law. However, Democratic state Sen. Nancy Skinner's bill to ban platforms from providing addictive foods to children passed the state Senate in May.
Governor Newsom said he plans to build on a law he signed in 2019 that gave school districts the power to limit or ban students' smartphone use during school. (Getty Images)
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“A warning label is important, but we must also give parents tools to protect their children from avoidable harm,” Skinner told POLITICO, saying his bill would complement Murthy's proposal.
State Sen. Henry Stern, a Democrat, introduced a bill earlier this year to expand the power of school districts to restrict students' use of social media during classes. He said he would be willing to withdraw his bill, which has already passed the Senate, if Newsom and the Legislature can find a better alternative.
“It's too difficult for every teacher, every school or every parent to have to figure this out on their own,” Stern told The Associated Press. “There are times when the government simply has to step in and make stricter traffic rules.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
