California Gov. Gavin Newsom wants students to keep cell phones away this school year. In a letter to school leaders in the state, he points to studies that show how excessive cell phone use can erode student learning and mental health.
This guidance doubles down on an earlier law Newsom passed in 2019 that gave school districts the authority to restrict cell phone use during school hours.
The landscape for cell phones has changed dramatically in the last 20 years.
"It's cell phones today," San Diego Unified School District Superintendent Lamont Jackson said. "It was a Walkman a while back."
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Crawford High School teacher John Haro told NBC 7 that he sees why Newsom is pushing schools statewide to tighten up when it comes to phones.
"I do tell my students this: 'Do you need your cell phone? Do you actually need it? Like, would you die? Would you survive out there if you didn't have your cell phone?' And, of course, all of them raise their hands, 'Yeah, there's no way I can survive,'" Haro said. "I was like, 'Well, not too long ago, when I was in high school, I didn't have a cell phone.'"
Newsom says when kids and teens use phones too much, they suffer increased anxiety, depression and other mental health issues.
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"I've seen it decrease my mental health a lot, too," Dominick DeWeese, a senior at Mt. Carmel High School, said.
DeWeese said he's noticed that some of his classmates have no choice but to heavily use their phones.
“If they can't afford a Chromebook or if they can't afford a computer, or if they can't afford school supplies, they can do a lot of the stuff on their phone,” he said.
Keagan Castro is another rising senior at Mt. Carmel High.
“Say you have an emergency. Say you need to access something that you forgot. That's your lifeline in a way, too, so taking that away is, you know, a little scary," Castro said.
Both teens see the problem but said solving it is where things get tricky.
Jackson’s approach to the issue is to make any restrictions a community decision.
“We want to be very careful not to take a resource away from our students while taking care of their wellness and wellbeing,” Jackson said.
The Los Angeles Unified School District has already cracked down on cell phone usage in schools by becoming the largest district nationwide to ban cell phones in June.
Other states like Florida, Ohio, Indiana and Oklahoma already have school cell phone restrictions at the state level.
