California bans smartphones in schools

California is banning the use of smartphones in schools; it is the fourteenth US state to ban, or limit the use of, the phones in the classroom.

School boards in California have until July 2026 to develop a policy that prohibits the use of smartphones on campus.

The move follows growing evidence that the phones can increase the risk of mental illness in children and adolescents and can impair learning.  A recent study in the medical journal JAMA concluded that adolescents who spend more than three hours a day on their phones are more likely to develop a mental health problem such as depression—and a poll published around the same time discovered that young Americans are on their phone for an average of 4.8 hours a day.

“We know that excessive smartphone use increases anxiety, depression and other mental health issues, but we have the power to intervene.  This new law will help students focus on academics, social development and the world in front of them, and not their screens, while they’re in school,” said Gavin Newsome, California’s governor.

The UK is considering a similar move.  John MacAlister, a Labour MP and former teacher, is pushing for a law that forces schools to restrict the use of smartphones.  Most schools in England are following government guidelines and are banning or restricting the use of the phones, but Mr MacAlister wants to make the ban a legal requirement through the Safer Phones Bill.

• One of the US’s top advisers on children’s use of smartphones is speaking in the UK at a conference on November 9.  Dr Devra Lee Davis, an adviser to the Clinton administration, is speaking at the conference, Wireless Radiation: The Elephant in the Classroom, which is being held in Forest Row, East Sussex.  Tickets, which cost £15, are available via Eventbrite (www.eventbrite.com/e/wireless-radiation-the-elephant-in-the-classroom-tickets-1014326486827

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