Gov. Gavin Newsom wants heavier restrictions on smartphones in California classrooms
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he wants to impose heavier limits on kids using smartphones in schools.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he wants to impose heavier limits on kids using smartphones in schools, citing U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s recent call to protect young people from the potential mental health harms of social media.
On Monday, Murthy published a New York Times opinion piece urging Congress to require a tobacco-style warning label on social media platforms to “remind parents and adolescents that social media has not been proved safe.”
In a statement to NBC News, Newsom echoed the surgeon general’s assertion that “social media is harming the mental health of our youth.” He cited a bill that he passed in 2019 that gave school districts in California the authority to limit or ban smartphone use during the school day, barring special circumstances and emergencies.
“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,” Newsom said. “When children and teens are in school, they should be focused on their studies — not their screens.”
The news was first reported by POLITICO.
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