About 500,000 California students will be banned from using smartphones in January 2025.
The Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education voted to ban smartphones for 429,000 students in an effort to protect them from distractions and social media that can disrupt their learning and damage their mental health.
This comes just days after US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy highlighted the potential harm to young people, particularly teenagers, and advocated for adding warning labels to social media apps.
Now, the board of trustees of the second-largest school district in the United States has approved a resolution on the issue by a 5-2 vote. The board has 120 days to implement a policy banning students from using cellphones and social media platforms. The policy is scheduled to be in place by January 2025.
“I think we’re going to be leading the way here, and our students, our city and the country as a whole will benefit as a result,” said board member Nick Melvoin, who introduced the resolution.
Los Angeles school officials will debate whether cellphones should be kept in purses or lockers during school hours and what exceptions to make for students of different ages and those with learning or physical disabilities. They will also consider the use of technology to limit access to social media platforms and how the policy would handle different devices such as smartwatches.
Board member George McKenna voted against the resolution, concerned the policy would be overly restrictive. Board member Scott Schmerelson also voted against, citing concerns about whether the ban would apply outside of school hours and how it would be enforced. “I think policing cell phones would become a full-time job,” Schmerelson said.
Last year, Florida, which has about 2.8 million public school students, enacted a law requiring school districts to block students’ access to social media, and several other states have proposed similar measures.
While research on mental health risks is still developing, Surgeon General Mursi stressed that the urgency of the issue requires immediate action. He cited research that shows young people who use social media for more than three hours a day may be at higher risk for mental health issues. He also pointed to polls that show the average teenager spends 4.8 hours a day on social media.
The Los Angeles School District pointed to further evidence linking cellphone addiction to increases in anxiety and cyberbullying.