SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday he wants to restrict students' smartphone use during the school day, citing the mental health risks of social media.
The announcement, first reported by Politico, came a day after U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called on Congress to require warning labels about social media platforms and their impact on young people.
Newsom said he plans to further strengthen a law he signed in 2019 that allows school districts to limit or ban students' smartphone use while in school or under the supervision of school staff.
“As the Surgeon General has affirmed, social media is harming the mental health of young people,” the Democratic governor said in a statement. “I look forward to working with the Legislature to limit smartphone use during school hours. While children and teens are in school, they should be focused on their studies, not on screens.”
Newsom's office did not provide further details about the proposal, but the California School Boards Association said regulating student smartphone use should be left to school districts, not the state.
“We support legislation that empowers school leaders to make policy decisions at the local level that reflect community concerns and what is needed to support students,” spokesman Troy Flint said.
Newsom's announcement comes amid growing debate across the country about how to address the impact of social media and smartphone use, particularly on young people, some of whom are vowing to quit social media to improve their mental health and allow them to focus on their schoolwork and extracurricular activities.
In Florida, Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed one of the nation's strictest bans on children's social media use earlier this year, and the New York State Legislature passed a bill earlier this month allowing parents to block posts suggested to their children by social media algorithms.
In California, proposals to impose fines on social media platforms that engage in child addiction have failed to become law in recent years.
But a bill introduced by state Sen. Nancy Skinner, a Berkeley Democrat, to ban online platforms from providing addictive feeds to minors passed the state Senate in May and is expected to be heard in a state Assembly committee next month.
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