The nation’s second-largest school district has come out in favor of banning them from the city’s public schools. The state of California wants to do the same to limit their impact on the mental health of students.
The Los Angeles school district voted Tuesday, June 18, in favor of a total ban on the use of smartphones in the city’s public schools. A decision announced at a time when the governor of California, the most populous state in the United States, wants to ban the use of these devices in schools, to limit their impact on the mental health of students.
In Los Angeles, which operates the nation’s second-largest school district, the administration will need to come up with a plan to prevent the use of cell phones and social media throughout the day. “Schools that have already implemented a phone-free day are reporting incredible results: children are happier, they talk to each other, their academic results are better”said Nick Melvoin, a member of the district’s board of trustees, who proposed the ban. “So I think this is an idea whose time has come.”he added.
His resolution cited research that excessive cell phone use is associated with increased stress, anxiety, depression, sleep problems, feelings of aggression and suicidal thoughts among adolescents. Studies have also shown improved academic performance for those who do not use smartphones.
A rare subject of consensus
Cradles of social networks, the United States, are increasingly worried about their impact on the lives of young Americans. On Monday, the country’s chief medical officer, Vivek Murthy, signed an op-ed in the New York Times to demand prevention messages, like on cigarette packets. He calls for platforms to publish clear warnings “to warn of the significant dangers they represent for the mental health of adolescents.” Spending more than three hours a day on social networks doubles the risk of causing symptoms linked to depression and anxiety in adolescents, recalls the doctor. In the summer of 2023, this manager writes, young people spent around 5 hours a day on these applications.
California Governor Gavin Newsom used this platform on Tuesday to announce his intention to ban the use of smartphones in schools throughout the “Golden State”. A project which will first have to be approved by local parliamentarians in this Democratic state. In an increasingly polarized America, this is one of the rare transpartisan consensuses. Florida, led by Newsom’s bete noire, Republican Ron DeSantis, for example, banned the use of smartphones in schools last year. Similar projects are underway in Oklahoma, Kansas, Vermont, Ohio, Louisiana and Pennsylvania.
