XPost: alt.education, misc.phone.mobile.iphone, alt.society.mental-health XPost: talk.politics.guns, sac.politics
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/newsom-seeks-restrict-students-cellphone- use-schools-harming-mental-health-our-youth
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, announced Tuesday his pledge to restrict students' smartphone use during the school day, pointing to
statements from the Biden administration that social media harms the
mental health of children.
The decision comes after U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy urged Congress
to require warning labels on social media platforms about their impact on
young people, similar to the warning labels on cigarettes and alcohol
about their impacts 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 tech companies have been
blocking efforts to protect young people.
Last year, Newsom called on NetChoice to drop a lawsuit against the
children's online safety law, the Age-Appropriate Design Code Act, that he signed in 2022. NetChoice, whose members include tech giants like Meta,
Amazon and Google, is a trade association that advocates for free
expression and free enterprise on the internet.
STATE LAWMAKERS PUSH FOR BAN ON PHONES IN SCHOOL
California Governor Gavin Newsom behind a podium with CA seal
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday his pledge to restrict
students' smartphone use during the school day. (Justin Sullivan/Getty
Images)
The governor said Tuesday he plans to build on a law he signed in 2019
that gave school districts the power to limit or ban students' use of smartphones 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 affirmed, 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 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."
The California School Boards Association said school districts should be
making decisions on whether to regulate smartphone use in schools, rather
than the state.
"We support legislation which empowers school leaders to make policy
decisions at a local level that reflect their community's concerns and
what's necessary to support their students," California School Boards Association spokesperson Troy Flint told The Associated Press.
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGIST URGES PARENTS TO KEEP SMARTPHONES AWAY FROM KIDS TO �PROTECT� THEIR MENTAL HEALTH
Surgeon General Vivek Murthy
U.S. 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 for the
district to establish policies prohibiting students' smartphone use during
the school day, with some exceptions. Board Member Nick Melvoin noted how "students are glued to their cell phones, not 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."
Newsom's announcement is noteworthy as California's Silicon Valley is
where many tech companies are located.
The decision also puts the California governor on the same side of the
debate as Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who earlier this year
signed one of the most restrictive bans in the country on children's
social media use.
In recent years, a California proposal to fine social media platforms for addicting children has failed to become law. However, Democrat state Sen.
Nancy Skinner's bill to ban platforms from providing addictive feeds to children passed the state Senate in May.
Social media apps
Gov. Newsom said he plans to build on a law he signed in 2019 that gave
school districts the power to limit or ban students' use of smartphones
during school. (Getty Images)
"A warning label is important, but we also need to provide parents with
tools to protect their kids from preventable harms," Skinner told
POLITICO, saying her bill would complement Murthy's proposal.
State Sen. Henry Stern, a Democrat, introduced a bill earlier this year to expand school districts' power to restrict social media use for students
during school. He said he would be open to pulling his bill, which already passed the Senate, if Newsom and the Legislature can find a better
alternative.
"It's just too hard for every teacher, every school, or every parent to
have to figure this out on their own," Stern told The Associated Press. "There's some times where government just has to step in and make some
bigger rules of the road."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
--
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Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
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Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
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President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.
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