SACRAMENTO — There is little disagreement about what to do. California schools must ban or restrict the use of cell phones that interfere with learning.
The law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom requires all school districts in the state to develop plans to ban or restrict cell phones in schools by July 2026. But educators who recently met with Newsom on the issue say the biggest debate is how to enforce the restrictions. For the generation that is obsessed with mobile phones.
Newsom, the father of four children, including two teenagers, says he understands the appeal of telephones. He said in an interview that his hope is to “ban” the entire school day, including lunch, in schools across the state. And he wants the rules to be introduced “much sooner” than the deadline.
“I certainly have my opinions, but I don’t think it’s appropriate to impose them,” Newsom added, saying local school leaders would decide.
He spoke at the Governor’s Mansion, where superintendents, teachers, parents, policy aides and health experts convened to plan how to free California students from their cell phones.
“We had a crisis going on in this country before COVID-19… issues of social isolation, this kind of social stagnation, and the more connected people are with their devices, the lonelier they are than ever before. I feel that way,” Newsom said.
Schools are ideal places to attempt large-scale cultural change, he and others said. And California, with about 1,000 school districts and 5.8 million students, will be the nation’s biggest test case.
Ban mobile phones at an early stage
According to a study released this year by the Pew Research Center, about 95% of teens own a cell phone. About 6 in 10 people surveyed said they use TikTok, Instagram, or Snapchat, and about 40% said they spend too much time on their phones.
Additionally, the majority of teens say that cell phones have made it easier for them to pursue hobbies and express their creativity. Nearly half say their phone helps them do better at school.
However, experts said the use of mobile phones in schools was widespread and needed an early crackdown.
“Middle school is probably going to be the fertile ground for that…high school is going to be difficult,” said Nick Melvoin, the LAUSD board member who sponsored the Los Angeles Unified School District’s strict ban that goes into effect in February. LA schools are currently sorting out their rules.
Dr. Sohil Sadd, director of the state’s Child and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative, said the tween and teen years are a time of “increased emotional sensitivity and a strong need for peer recognition,” and that school It is likely that uniform rules will be applied. success.
“While we are not completely at the mercy of ‘groupthink,’ what groups think and do is very important,” Sud said. “That’s why in certain settings, like schools, rules that restrict phone use in a consistent way for everyone may be more effective than a bespoke approach by individual parents or individual teachers. is expensive.”
Experts also say it may be easier to change phone culture in middle school settings because they tend to have smaller age groups and fewer children than high school settings.
Since the 2020 law signed by Newsom, schools have had the power to restrict or ban smartphone use, and some districts are moving forward with doing so. They gave me advice for the future.
Initially, they faced resistance. However, it was eventually resolved.
The Bay Area’s San Mateo-Foster City district began a strict cell phone ban in 2021 when students returned to campus after pandemic-induced school closures, a time when students were more digitally dependent than ever before. When students enter campus, they place their cell phones in a magnetically sealed Yondr pouch. Keep your cell phone in your backpack or pants pocket. At the end of the day, students tap the pouch on the magnetic unlock base when leaving campus. This is similar to a clothing store cashier tapping a garment to remove a magnetic anti-theft device.
The district was made up of 11,000 students in 22 schools, all at the pre-intermediate level, and because students were just starting to have phones, it was easy to create a phone-free culture.
Initially, dozens of students refused to put their phones in their pouches or forgot them when entering school. Teachers asked students caught using cell phones in class to turn their devices over. Those who refused were sent to the administrative office and called their parents to complain about the rule violation.
“But we never tied it to discipline. No kids were suspended or kicked out of the classroom,” said District Superintendent Diego Ochoa.
In a school district where every student is assigned a Chromebook and a Google-based email account, students have found a workaround. “They were using Google Chat and Google Spaces during class,” Ochoa said. The district then disabled those features.
Over time, complaints and violations disappeared. The district also reported a decrease in overall student suspensions and conflicts related to social media, such as bullying.
“We’re not blaming everything on cell phones,” said Gene Kim, San Mateo-Foster City District Commissioner. But he said at least some of the improvements are related to a phone-free environment.
The Santa Barbara School District began a no-phone policy in January 2023. Instead of purchasing pouches for thousands of students, we saved money by using “phone hotels” in classrooms where students were assigned numbers to place their devices. Phone calls are allowed during lunch and between classes.
Superintendent Hilda Maldonado said Santa Barbara city officials allowed cell phone use outside of class because they wanted teens to learn to “self-regulate” their relationship with devices. said.
“Do kids still use cell phones?” Absolutely. “When I walk into the school, I see students texting and looking at screens during lunch,” Maldonado said. “But they don’t rush to pick up their phones like candy after class.”
What about enforcement?
Educators say the most difficult issue is enforcement and discipline.
There is nothing in state law that directs schools to punish students who violate policies or discipline.
School districts have taken different stances on discipline in general, with Los Angeles adopting a “restorative” model that prioritizes dialogue before punishment, so far limited to phone confiscation.
Educators say one of the biggest concerns is that teachers are reluctant to confiscate cellphones because they don’t want to be responsible if they get damaged or lost.
Teachers don’t want to become “cell phone cops,” says Congressman Edgar Zazueta. She is the executive director of the California Association of School Administrators and former director of external affairs for LAUSD.
Santa Barbara Superintendent Maldonado said she initially heard similar complaints from teachers. She said administrators told teachers they were “exempted” from financial responsibility for the confiscated devices, which relieved “a lot of anxiety.” Still, it’s much more common for an administrator to call a parent than to confiscate a phone.
Questions about discipline are surfacing in Los Angeles schools as schools accelerate toward bans. District guidelines detail the process for multiple warnings for phone violators, but are vague about confiscation.
Melvoin suggested in an interview that violators could be given a warning before parents are called. He said further violations could lead to a period of forfeiture. When violations increase, parents have to come pick up the phone. “We hope that the district will have more clarity on the outcome in the coming weeks,” he said.
Melvoin predicts that the district’s student compliance rate is 95%, and that “5% of them are going to be stubborn.”
When Santa Barbara’s ban began last year in the 12,000-student district, not all students immediately complied. This year, Maldonado said there has been increased interest from teachers, principals, students and parents who see the benefits of a phone-free environment.
Maldonado said it would be easier for students to overcome the hurdle of not complying with the immediate phone ban “if we start by focusing on mental health and wellness rather than just following the rules.”
And there will be mistakes. In one case, Maldonado said, a substitute teacher incorrectly assumed that a student was hiding a cell phone instead of leaving it in a “phone hotel.” It turned out that the student did not have a cell phone.
“Go Cold Turkey”
Experts say that while phones and social media can be addictive, they are different from chemical addictions. A recent study from Durham University in the UK found that voluntary social media fasting did not increase or decrease the desire to get back online. Other studies have reported that digital detox leads to increased feelings of well-being, attention span, and mental clarity.
Psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Driving an Epidemic of Mental Illness has become the handbook for the phone-free movement in schools. Hite recommends banning the use of cell phones with social media until the age of 16.
UCLA psychology professor John Piacentini, director of the UCLA Child Anxiety Recovery, Education, and Support Center, agreed that teens should delay smartphone use.
Piacentini said school bans would be more effective if teenagers were modeled not only by their teachers but also by older siblings and parents to discourage them from using cell phones.
“It’s going to be very difficult cold turkey for a lot of kids. But it has to be done. Are we going to seriously work together to help kids learn how to live without a cell phone for a period of time? It’s up to parents and families,” said Piacentini, who did not attend the Sacramento meeting. “Parents use cell phones just like their children, and just like their children, they can become addicted.”
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